House of Hades (Fictious, Fictious Version)
by Mystic25
Summary: A telling of the "House of Hades." Rated M for violence and imagery.
1. Annabeth 1

"House of Hades (The Fictious, Fictious Version)

Mystic25

Summary: A telling of the "House of Hades." Rated M for violence and imagery.

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns all the said characters. No money is being made off of them. Enjoyment yes, money, no.

A/N: Wow, so I started this thing last year at this time after the "Mark of Athena", came out, which I read in three days flat. Then I abandoned this story after a few months due to writers block. Then found it again and continued it. And now am posting it a little over a _week_ before the real "House of Hades" comes out. I made sure to get this out before then because who wants to read a fictionalized story of a fictioanized story when you could read Riordan's fiction. Confused? Because I sure am!

A/N #2: The M Rating might be a bit cautious, but I didn't want to understep (if that's a real word, which I'm sure it isn't.). So that being said, you have been warned about the content.

Lastly, I am extremely proud of this. It took a damn long time, but that's what makes it lovely to me.

Enjoy!

**xxxxxXxxxx**

"_We have to go in places nobody would ever think of going into were _

_it not for the necessities of war."_

~Joshua Chamberlain

**xxxxxXxxxxxx**

**ANNABETH**

Annabeth hated spiders. The small kind that crawled over her bedroom walls as a kid and forced her out on the run. And the evil Goddess ones as large as the Pantheon kind that threw her into Tartarus by a single piece of spider silk.

So of course, she got both kinds. She was special like that.

Thankfully, she couldn't see Archane's 'children' that had plummeted with the Goddess as she fell. But, she also couldn't _see_ anything except a blackness that pressed in on her like she was sliding down a brick wall and was hitting every brick along the way.

The air whooshed by her hot and stale, a millennia year old stale that smelled of overripe things that rotted in the sun.

The darkness was like its own monster. It clawed at her flesh and ripped at her already tattered clothes. Her hair was pulled straight back like she was on a high velocity roller coaster ride.

"Percy!" Annabeth tried to call out Percy's name, but her voice blew away with the speed of the wind that whipped by them as they fell.

She felt his hand in hers, but it didn't ease her mind. He could be knocked out and still be gripped to her hand. He could be – _oh Gods!_

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed as loud as she could, and it sounded like a radio tuned into an out of range frequency.

Percy turned his head. "Annabeth!" her name came back to her garbled.

Percy's hand clawed its way up her arm with very slow movements. All around them the force of the wind acted like invisible ropes, binding their hands down to their sides.

Annabeth could barely move her arms from the pressure. How fast were they falling? 80 miles an hour? 100? At that speed, no matter what kind of surface they landed on, it would be like hitting pavement. They would break all the bones in their bodies if the fall didn't kill them instantly.

_Stop thinking, STOP THINKING!_ Annabeth screamed to herself.

She groped blindly for Percy with her free hand. She managed to move it up in increments and finally found his shoulder and latched onto it. She felt as he fumbled for her waist and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close against his chest.

His body somewhat buffered her from the wind. She heard his heartbeat pounding frantically against her ear.

The air grew even hotter, like hot from the oven hot.

After falling countless minutes in absolute darkness, a sudden brightness rose up to meet them.

But when Annabeth wriggled a bit from Percy and peered at the light, it did not fill her with hope.

Because it was coming from a fire, much larger and warmer than she had seen or felt before; even in the deepest part of Hephaestus Cabin forges. The entire ground below burned red hot with it. The heat roared, and even from this far up she could feel as it burned like a second degree burn on her skin. The warmth crawled up her ankle like Archane's children out for one last conquest.

Annabeth bit back a scream and tried not to claw up Percy's body like a little girl. She tried to be more warrior like and less pathetic.

But, the fire, they were headed _right_ into it. How could she not be scared? Just because she was smart didn't mean she was any less fearful to be burned alive. _Fear was an irrational response._ She had read that from some philosopher. But right now all she was thinking about was throwing _that guy_ into the burning flames of Tartarus and see how his philosophy held up after that.

When Annabeth looked at Percy she saw a shadowy version of his face. He was covered in sweat (she imaged that she was too). His hair was completely slicked back to his head; and he eyed the pit of flames with the same terror that she was.

The fire drew closer, uncomfortably closer. This time actual flames leapt at Annabeth's bubble wrap cast. And this time, she screamed as it blistered her leg. She beat at the flames on her jeans frantically with her bare hand.

"Annabeth!" Percy screamed her name and beat out the last of the flames with his own hand.

But now the fire was so close that she saw the ground where it burned from. A slick obsidian black terrain dotted with bright red rocks. Besides the rocks and the ground, there were no trees, no nothing. Because everything else was covered in flames.

Annabeth felt tears as they slid, slick and wet down her face; they evaporated in the heat moments later. She saw nothing to buffer their fall; no sign of any place absent of that orange light.

They were going to fall right into the fire.

_A one way trip. A very hard fall._

This was it.

Percy seemed to sense it too.

He gathered her closer and threw his arms up over her head, shielding her with his body.

She didn't have time to argue about it. They had about 10 seconds before they reached that bottom of fire.

"I love you." Annabeth's words were muffled in Percy's shirt. She wasn't even sure if he heard her.

A tremendous blast of heat, hotter than anything she'd felt before blew up at them like a bomb.

The ground slammed into her. Her entire body blasted with pain as red hot as her ankle.

The world blacked out completely.

**xxxxXxxx**

The smell of sulfur hit her like a dozen rotten eggs broken all at once. She coughed and tried to roll away from the putrid smell. But it assaulted her again from the other side. Her eyes felt like they had been burned shut. She couldn't draw any air into her lungs. It felt like she had been sucker punched repeatedly with a cudgel.

Her brain felt like loose bricks. But as her senses came back to orientation, she realized that it all meant one thing: she was alive.

Her eyes finally opened; the light of the fire stabbed a headache into them like an ice pick into her skull. She coughed again, and rolled painfully on her side to gag out something sticky (_please don't be blood. please don't be blood.)_ That little bit of movement drained her and she wanted to roll back over and pass out. But she forced herself to crawl into a sitting position.

Which made the world gray out in a shade she was sure matched her eyes. She fumbled to keep herself upright. She had fallen on a patch of the obsidian ground she had seen amidst the flames.

The fire still burned hot and dangerous around her. But except for a few bad looking burns on her forearms, and one that she felt sting the side of her face, nothing else seemed touched by the flames.

How could that be? There was _no_ clear place to land. _We should be roasted like chickens, we-Oh Gods!_ Annabeth realized that Percy was no longer beside her. She instantly forgot about the fire, and the pain.

"Percy!" Her voice finally carried in a repeat of echoes. But it didn't help, because she only got silence for an answer.

The ground in front of her was dotted with flames, then about five feet in front of them was an outcropping of those blood red rocks. And beside the rocks, was- _something_- that looked like snakes. Black snakes that slithered over the rocks.

Annabeth saw two things simultaneously that made her heart stop. The first was the distinct crown like feature on the scales of the snakes; and the other was a pair of jean covered legs that they crawled on.

"_Percy!"_ Annabeth pushed herself up on her feet. The world tilted, and she slammed to her knees. She stood up, dizzy, and clutched her broken ankle.

Percy wasn't moving, and the basilisks whipped up a hissing frenzy at the sound of her voice. They looped themselves over his still form.

"Stop!" Annabeth had lost her dagger when , she had fought with Archane. So she grabbed one of the red rocks and hurled it as hard as she could to the black shapes.

"Leave him alone!" Her aim went high and the rock clattered into a dark abyss that was just beyond the reach of the flames.

The basilisks turned at the noise, but it didn't hold their attention for very long. They turned back to Percy's unmoving form.

Annabeth ran at a slant. The world spun like a Tilt a Whirl. She was now close enough to see Percy's face behind the rocks. It was battered and bloody on one side and one of the basilisks had coiled around his neck.

Annabeth grabbed another piece of rock. The ground by Percy's head was littered with pieces the size of baseballs, like he had smashed into them when he fell.

"I said go away!" Annabeth used all of her fear and anger into her next throw. And this time, her rock knocked one of the basilisks directly in the head.

The basilisk hissed louder and snapped at her. The other one moved off of Percy and hissed in unison with the first so they sounded like a discordant song.

Annabeth could barely stand, her legs felt like melting jello. But she grabbed another piece of rock, and stumbled in-between Percy and the basilisks.

"Try me!" Her voice was weak and sounded like she ate gravel. She had no weapons to kill these things, and even if she did, they were in Tartarus. Would killing them even work? Wouldn't they just end up here? But she didn't back down. She wasn't about to let herself or Percy be eaten.

"I mean it!" Annabeth tried her angry voice again. She drew on all her fear of Percy being unconscious behind her, of being so far away from the world above. "If you touch him again!-"

A rumble shook the entire open area.

Gaea's voice, deep and evil rose from the rocks like a voice made of earthquakes.

"_Such fire child. You are indeed a worthy sacrifice. You fell _willingly _into Tartarus,"_ Gaea sounded pleased. And it was an extremely terrifying sound given what she was talking about.

Another rumble that _would've_ been an earthquake if they had been topside dropped Annabeth to her knees. The basilisks hissed, but retreated away from Percy like they had been sprayed with repellant.

"_My children will not kill you Athena girl- or the boy. The blood of both of you are needed on the ancient lands. Not here in this cesspool."_

The basilisks hissed again at the word 'cesspool' like Gaea had just insulted their room.

"_I cannot retrieve you – but they will, and they will bring you to Greece. And I will awaken at last and put an end to this broken toy you call a world."_

Annabeth's breath choked in her ears; her heartbeat was so fast and loud that it left her dizzy. Gaea seemed to sense it because another rumble shook the cave like a horrible sarcastic laugh.

"_Do not worry my dear. I shall see you and Percy Jackson, very, very soon."_

The basilisk were no longer near Percy. They crawled towards the darkness that Annabeth had seen behind the fire. She didn't question it. For once in her life, she didn't question something. Instead she fell in a heap beside Percy.

His eyes were closed. There were blisters on the side of his face as big as quarters; and blood coated the other side of his face, and was matted in his hair.

He was so still. He almost looked –

"_Percy!" _ Annabeth shook him and his head moved limply like a rag dolls. She placed shaking fingers on his neck, and felt his heart beat under them. But when she placed her hand under his nose, no air came out.

"No, _no – Percy!" _ Annabeth shook him again, trying to shock him into breathing. She pinched his nose and breathed into his mouth twice.

Percy remained motionless; no air on her hand under his nose.

"_No!"_ Annabeth screamed. "I just got you back! You came back!" She started crying and leant over and breathed into his mouth again.

He coughed into her mouth. His breath tasted horrible.

But she didn't give a Pegasus hindquarter about bad breath; he was _breathing._

"Percy-?" His name was a sob on her lips.

Percy finally opened his eyes; green and blood shot. He coughed again.

"Annabeth-?" His voice was as rough as sandpaper. "A-Are we dead yet?"

Annabeth fell onto him and sobbed.

Percy didn't do anything but hold her back.

**xxxxXxxxx**

After 10 minutes of lying down on the black stone Percy was finally able to sit up – with Annabeth's help. He looked as woozy as she felt and as green as his eyes. (Apparently it was the theme for Tartarus that day to be the same color as your eyes.)

Percy surveyed their surroundings; the wall of flames present everywhere except where they sat. And the darkness behind them seemed to be pulling with its own gravitational force like a giant vacuum.

Annabeth tried not to look at that blackness; but it was like a car crash. Both of their eyes kept wandering towards it. It was the same kind of darkness they had just fallen through; a huge mass of black nothingness.

"Where do you think that leads?" Percy's voice still sounded like grated cheese, and his green eyes were dull like kelp left out too long in the sun.

As he stared at the hole, it was like the blackness leached the color itself from his eyes.

Annabeth stared at it with him. It was so black that it left her nauseous. "I don't know. This place is so – _huge." _ On instinct she reached for her dagger but came up empty handed.

Percy dug into his pockets, but came up empty handed as well. His sword hadn't materialized in his pocket.

Rule Number One of Tartarus it seemed, was that demigods had to remain weaponless.

Percy's hand lowered; and closed on nothing but air. Like his battle reflexes couldn't comprehend not having a weapon to use.

He reached over and grabbed Annabeth's wrist. "Are you okay?"

Annabeth's laugh came out a bit hysterical. "Oh yeah. My ankles broken. You – you almost _died_- and we're stuck in Tartarus without so much as a crumb of ambrosia between us. I'm super." Her voice cracked a little more.

Percy's hand tightened on her wrist. "We're together." He spoke the same words he had when he found her with Archane. "And we're going to come _out _together, okay?" He reached up and cupped the side of her face.

Annabeth wanted to burrow into Percy's touch and hide. But Tartarus wasn't a place for weakness. It was place full of monsters with vendettas against demigods. And Gaea wanted to slaughter her and Percy and reawaken from her centuries old sleep to destroy the world.

She didn't have the luxury to hide. She had to act; just as soon as she found her Tartarus-walking-around legs.

"How are you feeling?" Annabeth studied Percy's face matted with so much blood. But she would take the blood to him lying motionless on the ground.

"Like I got hit by Frank in full on Elephant mode," Percy replied.

She winced in sympathy.

He eyed her critically. "What about you?"

She probed her broken ankle with one hand; and bit back a gasp from the pain it produced. "I think the fall rebroke it." A sharp pain shot up her entire leg. "No, scratch that. I _know_ the fall rebroke it." The bubble wrap cast was charred in some places and melted to her skin in others.

Annabeth wondered how much it would hurt to peel that off, and how much skin would come away as a result. Then she stopped thinking because it made her want to throw up.

Between her and Percy they had no supplies. No water, no ambrosia. Only tattered and singed clothing.

The flames rose like flickering orange giants around them. It left them in one perfect circle of untouched ground. The sulfuric smell rose thickly in the form of mustard yellow gas from the red rocks.

It stung Annabeth's eyes and burned her throat. She coughed, which rattled her bad ankle and made her gasp in pain.

"Your ankle," Percy still had a hold of her wrist. "You have to set it." He was coughing as much as she was; the hem of his orange T-Shirt pulled up over his nose.

"Not here," Annabeth said. The sulfur and the pain of her ankle started to overwhelm her. She had to blink back enormous dark spots from in front of her eyes. "We have to move."

"Where?" Percy asked. "There's nothing but _fire_ anywhere else!" His voice was frantic.

"It won't hurt us," Annabeth said; suddenly she was able to understand Gaea's last words:

_Your blood is needed on the ancient lands, not here in this cesspool._

Gaea needed them alive. The fire wasn't going to kill them. It was a trap; a way to corner them so that the Earth Queen's Forces could over take them and haul them to Greece.

Annabeth stood up and promptly fell over again. She found her balance and tried again. She half stumbled over to where the black stone bordered the red hot flames. Sweat began to pour down her face as she stumbled head first into the fire.

"What are you doing?!" Percy demanded. He grabbed her arm and tried to yank her back.

She turned to him. "Help me!"

He looked at her like she'd gone insane. But he steadied her with a hand on her waist.

The flames flickered dangerously close in front of her, and lapped at the edges of her jeans. She gripped Percy's shoulder for support and raised her good leg into the air.

_Don't put that there; don't put that there! _ her mind screamed at her. But she gritted her teeth and lowered her leg directly into the flame.

"_Annabeth!"_ Percy tried to pull her away again, but she resisted.

Annabeth placed her charred, broken Converse to the ground. She felt the heat through the shoe; like a bath with the water heater set way too high. It wasn't a comfortable feeling; she felt her skin start to blister under her sock. But the flames didn't catch on the canvas of her shoes, or her jeans.

"We have to walk through it," Annabeth glanced over at Percy who watched her like both her and the fire were crazy for doing what they were doing. "Percy!" She shook the hand that held his shoulder; because he had that same dazed look he had when the Eidendowns had been forced to leave his body on the Argos II. It almost looked like he was in shock.

And truthfully, Annabeth wasn't fairing much better. Her energy was almost used up. Each step she took shot knife like pain the entire right side of her body. But they were too exposed in this open area. They had to find some kind of cover.

"Percy please," Annabeth turned his face towards her. The smoke had clouded his green eyes even more. He looked – he looked terrified. The son of Poseidon trapped in a ring of fire with no visible water anywhere.

"We're together!" Annabeth held to his face like had held to hers. "I need you!"

Her words seemed to reanimate Percy. He blinked and looked at the flames that rose a good two feet over their heads. Then he looked back at her.

Annabeth knew that look. It meant that he was back with her and had formed some sort of plan. Which was why she was totally surprised when he picked her up. Because plans in fleeing Tartarus didn't seem like they would involve the Bridal Carry.

"Percy, now's not the time to be chivalrous!"

"This fire won't kill us." Percy turned so that he was looking at her pressed against his body. "But we can't stay in it too long; and you can't move fast. So we go together."

Annabeth always seemed to underestimate Percy's intelligence, even in the depths of Tartarus. She didn't mean to- Percy wasn't stupid. It was just, she was supposed to be the intelligent, analytical one and he was supposed to be the kill things with water one.

"That cave." He motioned to the black cave that lay beyond the wall of flames. "We go there, okay?"

Annabeth had watched the basilisks slither into that dark hole- it wasn't her first choice for an escape route. But she could see no flames in that area at all. Given their options, this one seemed to suck the least.

She just hoped that the blackness led to somewhere and didn't just kill them instantly.

On that happy note she gripped Percy's neck; and he shifted her closer to him to balance their combined weights better.

"On three," she said.

He nodded. "One."

"Two." She held her breath.

"Three."

For the next five minutes Annabeth felt sizzling heat move up her body like hot coals were being thrown at her. Percy bore the brunt of the heat since he was walking directly into the flames. Orange light rose up and lowered around them like the dimmer switch of a chandelier that was on the fritz.

Every time she asked Percy if he was okay his response alternated between groaning and swearing in Ancient Greek.

Which was exactly what she was doing.

When they reached the blackness, Annabeth felt a whoosh of frigidly cold air hit her like they had just stepped into a freezer. The sudden attack of cold air on her blistered skin left it feeling extremely tingly and almost numb.

The darkness was like pitch. Even darker than their fall into Tartarus. It made Annabeth want to vomit at the feeling of complete emptiness. She almost wished for the fire again because then at least she could _see._

She lost track of how long they ran through utter darkness. The only sounds she heard was Percy's harsh breathing.

Percy didn't have his Achilles Curse anymore . He wasn't a lightweight, but she wasn't either. And he was hurt; he wouldn't be able to carry her for much longer.

The blackness suddenly lightened into gray and even that small amount of light made Annabeth squint. There had been so many changes of the light that her eyes had a hard time keeping up.

Ahead of them was a huge cavern; as big as the gallery at the National History Museum in Washington. Annabeth saw outcroppings of broken red rocks; the cave ceiling was high and made up of jagged looking white stones that glowed and lit them like glow sticks.

"Annabeth," Percy had begun to slow down like he had run out of energy.

His arms slackened their hold on her and he stumbled; and lost his grip on her entirely.

Despite being hurt, Annabeth's battle reflexes kicked in and she managed to drop into a roll and landed her weight off her bad side. But it still shot a fire poker of pain through her body.

Percy had fallen to his knees.

"Percy!" Annabeth hovered over him. He blinked sluggishly; his eyes were glassy, unfocused. Her brain screamed out: _Concussion! _ He looked like he was about to pass out.

"No!" Annabeth was terrified. She had no idea how Percy's head had handled a fall at 100 miles an hour into solid rock. He had already stopped breathing once. What if this time she couldn't wake him?

"Hey!" Annabeth grabbed frantically at his face. "Us staying together means you have to _stay with me_ Seaweed Brain!" She tried to keep the rising notes of panic from her voice; but it wasn't working.

Percy blinked again; like he was trying to listen to her, but his brain wouldn't cooperate.

He gave her a look that seemed to say: '_I'm sorry'_ before his eyes rolled up in his head and his weight dropped out from under him.


	2. Percy 1

**xxxxXxxx**

**PERCY**

Percy barely remembered losing consciousness; but he remembered when he regained it because Annabeth slapped him awake.

"_Percy!"_ She sounded really, really scared. "_Answer me!"_

Percy groaned, which obviously was the right answer because Annabeth stopped slapping him.

His head felt like it was split open. He blinked his eyes and found her face inches from his own. Her blonde hair was tangled like dry tumbleweed around her face and her gray eyes were red rimmed.

"Annabeth?" He managed her name above the pounding in his skull.

"Stop doing that to me Seaweed Brain!" Her voice lost its initial anger at the end and she choked on the last word.

Percy's head hurt like Hades; but Annabeth looked so scared: "I'm sorry."

Annabeth laughed, a fractured sounding thing. She helped him sit up and kissed him.

Sitting up made him dizzy, but her hands were soft and comfortingly cool on the back of his neck.

Light poured off the stone in the walls in front of them like hundreds of nightlights hand been plugged into the rocks. The ground they sat on was made of the same hard packed black earth and red rocks as the pit they had just left; with the only difference being the absence of the flames.

Which Percy considered as a tremendous plus.

There were bleached white broken branches scattered around the black ground; though Percy had no idea where they came from because he couldn't see any trees. The air reeked of sulfur and a cloying decay. He had fought and been in many strange places; but everything here seemed to be made to overwhelm his senses.

Annabeth kept watching him like he would keel over any second. It started to make him feel embarrassed . He was supposed to be this powerful demigod; not all weak and sickly.

Annabeth knelt inches from him, dirty and exhausted looking. Her gray eyes were fearful, but for _him._

Percy felt like the back end of a Minotaur. "I'm okay." He flashed her a smile then lowered his eyes to her broken ankle. Her foot was bent almost 30 degrees in the wrong angle and it was swollen and pock marked with blisters with bits of melted bubble wrap plastic stuck to it.

_Holy Zeus, she _walked_ on this!?_

"Annabeth-" Her name was an apology.

Annabeth didn't respond because she was also looking at her ankle. She placed both hands on it and tried to manipulate it back into place. Which either wasn't working, or working too well because she was cursing a lot of Ancient Greek.

Her actions produced a sickening sound like slate rocks rubbing together. Annabeth stopped swearing and went bone white.

"Whoa-" Percy grabbed her shoulders before she could face plant onto the rocks. He pushed some sweaty blonde hair from her face. "Let me do that."

Her face was a grimace of pain, but she managed a nod.

Percy looked around the ground for something to set her broken ankle with because her bubble wrap cast was now a pile of melted useless.

The light of the cave was low, even with all the glowing rocks, which made everything cloaked in shadows and hard to see in distinction. But Percy was able to spot some of those white branches lying only a few feet to the right of where they were.

He stood up; his legs were shaky. He wouldn't win any Camp Half Blood awards for battle prowess, but he managed to grab the branches and come back over to Annabeth without looking like a complete dork.

He dropped the bundle of branches on the ground. One of them fell close to Annabeth's leg.

"Percy," Annabeth picked up the branch closet to her. Her eyes had a weird look in them.

"What's wrong?" Percy looked at her in concern, afraid that she was going to pass out.

She looked up at him. "These aren't branches."

Percy was about to ask her _'What do you mean?'_ But he drew closer to look for himself.

The branches, including the one Annabeth was holding, were long, covered in black and red dirt from the ground. But the white color of the branches themselves, Percy had only seen that color once before, and the way there were bulb like projections at the ends. _Oh Gods-_

As if a revelation struck them both, Percy and Annabeth cast their eyes up to the walls of the cave. Even in the poor light they were able to see that the things fused to the rock wall _weren't_ stones like they had thought. They were bones; human bones. And so was what Annabeth was holding.

"_Di Immortais!"_ Annabeth cursed. She looked horrified at what she held, like she wanted to throw up because of it.

Percy knew he wanted too. "Annabeth," he reached out to take the thing from her. "I'll – I'll find something else-"

"There _isn't_ anything else," Annabeth returned, but like she really didn't want to say it. "You have to use them."

Percy _really_ wanted to throw up now. But Annabeth was holding (was it a leg bone?) out to him beseechingly. Her gray eyes giving him a look that said: "_I need you to do this for me.'_

He took the bone from her grasp. It was the longest one in the pile and still had cartilage stuck to the joints like a chicken leg bone. He tried not to think about that. Or how the snapping sound it made when he broke it in half mirrored the sound that Annabeth's ankle had made.

He tore off the hem of his tattered orange camp shirt and gripped Annabeth's broken ankle in between his hands.

The movement made her groan.

"Sorry," He apologized. The bubble wrap was almost melted to parts of her skin. He picked away at part of one piece, but it came away oozing blood beneath it and made her scream.

"Sorry!" Percy raised his hands. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." His breathing was almost as fast as hers.

He tried to remember the first aid Chiron had taught him in setting broken bones.

None of his lessons involved setting bones in Tartarus and using _other_ bones as splints; but Chiron had taught him to use all available resources – and that meant this.

He rested a hand on top of Annabeth's toes, and the other around the base of her leg, just above all the swelling of her ankle.

"We go on three, like before." He locked eyes with her. "Okay? – One, tw-"

"Wait!" Annabeth cried. "_Right_ on three right? So I won't flinch? Like, _one, two, three._ Not _one, two, three, go-"_

"Three Annabeth," Percy said. "The number between two and four. Okay?"

"Okay," Annabeth nodded her head like a bobble head doll.

Percy wanted to give her his hand, but he needed both of them in order to set her ankle.

He took a deep breath to steady himself. "One. Two.-"

She closed her eyes and braced her hands into fists on the ground.

"-Three," Percy twisted her foot until he felt something align underneath the skin.

Annabeth went sheet white and cursed: "Vlacus, vlacus, vlacus!" Which basically meant: 'idiot, idiot idiot!

Percy didn't know if she meant him or her ankle. "Almost done!" He set her foot with the pieces of the broken bone (it was still gross to think about) "Breathe," He worked quickly and wrapped the torn fabric of his shirt up and around her foot like an ace bandage.

Annabeth panted beside him like it was a bizarro Lamaze class. She managed to get in a few good hits at his shoulder with one of her hands.

He tied up the ends of the fabric and held up his hands. "I'm done." He gave up one of his hands when she reached for him and tried not to wince at her crushing grip.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

"You okay?" Percy asked.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth growled at him. "Just. Stop. Talking!"

She fell forward and Percy drew her to his chest, despite the fact that she started beating on it with her fists. (She always had a mean hook). Eventually, the punching stopped, much to Percy's bruised chest's happiness.

Annabeth was still against him; and he rubbed her back. "You okay?" He tried again.

He felt her pull back; her eyes were bloodshot, and she was still pale. But she was wearing what he called her: '_warrior face'_ "Thanks."

He kissed her sweaty face. "I owe you, remember?"

Annabeth carefully raised her broken ankle into the air, testing the integrity of the splint. He could see her grimace, but she was too stubborn to cry out again.

She braced her arms on the black stone and started to push herself off the ground. He came behind her and helped her. Without a crutch, she leant heavily on him. He'd offer to carry her again, if he didn't think she'd kill him.

"I'd give my Daldeaus laptop for a crumb of Ambrosia," Annabeth ground out in between testing her ability to walk. "Or at least some Extra Strength Tylenol."

Percy supported her over to the cave walls, where they both started to examine the rocks. Now that he knew what the 'white rocks' really were, he avoided looking at them. But they couldn't stay in this cave, they needed a way out, so he had to examine them. The stone wall was littered with bones fused in them, rib cages, leg and arm bones, and entire skeletons without heads.

Some sort of phosphorescent plants grew in between the bones; it was what gave the illusion that they glowed. The end result was like a freaky haunted house. Percy could see no way out; no other black areas signaling a new chamber. It was all a huge dead end.

He felt along the rocks, looking for any kind of access way hidden in the stone. Annabeth's hands trailed behind his, hers going low, his going high. Several times Percy jabbed his hand on a protruding rib bone, and he had to force himself to not pull away from his task.

The bones in the rock were too many to count, something had been leaving them here for a very long time. And he'd rather they not come face to face with whatever that something was without so much as a dagger between them.

"Percy," Annabeth pried something small of the rock. She held up a piece of what looked like a broken mini conch shell. It had come from the skeletal hand of one of the whole skeletons without heads. Like he had died holding it.

She held it out to him. "Do you think you can summon water from this? Enough water pressure might be able to erode a passageway into this stone."

The piece of shell in her hand was no bigger than a quarter. Percy stared at the thing, not feeling anything. They had fallen even beyond the help of any of the gods. He was afraid to try his powers. What if they didn't work? What would he tell Annabeth? He had fallen into Tartarus with her – to be completely useless.

"I don't know," Percy took the shell from her. He felt a tiny tug at his gut, but it was insignificant. If there were water in there, it would be barely enough to erode a hole in a sandbox. "I can try-?" his words sounded stupid. He never had to _try_ to use his powers before.

Annabeth looked at him in the way that said: '_You sure as Hades better,'_ and '_Please, for me?'_ at the same time.

Percy closed his eyes and concentrated. He imagined the shale at its source, it's _original_ source on the base of an ocean. He willed all his energy into bringing the hidden salt water out of it.

The tug at his gut grew stronger. There was a _'pop'!'_ and warm water began leaking onto his hands. A sense of relief washed over him at his ability to use his powers even past Hades.

"_Percy!"_ Annabeth was _right_ next to him so her scream shook his ear drums.

His eyes snapped open. The tiny conch was now spraying an arch of liquid like a water fountain from its center.

Except it wasn't water. It was red and thick like –

Percy swore and dropped it. Bright red blood continued to pour out of the shell without his coaxing, arching up high and sprayed their tattered clothing.

"_Do not be so repulsed Son of Poseidon."_ Gaea's voice rumbled from somewhere above. "_Human blood has as much salt as ocean water. Why wouldn't you be able to command it too?"_

Another _pop_ was heard as something broke off the rock and blood began to flow from the hole it made in the wall. The spray hit Annabeth directly in the eyes, she screamed.

Percy grabbed her and pushed her behind him. More _pops_ sounded like gunfire as blood began to fill up the cave floor, soaking their shoes.

Gaea's laughter shook whole pieces of bones from the cave wall and drooped them into the red lake.

"_They fought so valiantly – these warriors. But they needed my help to win their human wars. So I obliged them; for a price."_

A sound shook the cave, like something massive was breaking apart from the stone. A skeleton dropped into the rising blood with a splash. It's head was now back on its body with a Greek War helmet. In one hand it gripped a razor sharp looking sword that glowed like a lamp.

"_They are my eternal servants, to do my will."_

A second splash brought down another warrior skeleton, this one in full Greek battle armor, brandishing the same type of sword.

Percy had fought skeleton warriors before. They had been fierce and strong and freaky things dressed in camo. But these things were something else – they had no translucent skin, only swords and gleaming naked bone. Their eyes were huge, black nightmarish holes and they stared hatefully at him through the slits of their helmets.

Percy almost wished for the skeleton warriors, they were a lot less terrifying.

The level of blood was rising fast, it was now up to their knees. The smell of salt was so thick that Percy never wanted to smell the ocean again. The two skeletons advanced on them slowly, wading in the viscous liquid with sickening sloshing sounds.

"_You will not be killed dear ones."_

Gaea's rumbled voice dropped an entire disembodied ribcage into the blood at Percy's feet. The splashing sound of the skeletons' feet drew closer.

" _My Legions will bring you to me. Where your blood will be spilled on a much worthier arena."_

The level of blood was now at Percy's collar bone at nearly at Annabeth's chin. It rose even higher, going to his neck, then above his head He kicked his feet up off the ground before he could be submerged, his hand gripped to Annnabeth's as they rose higher to keep their heads above the redness.

Percy's heels found small purchase in the stone wall and he used to anchor himself. He felt ripples by his shoes from Annabeth treading beside him.

The skeletons vanished underneath the crimson liquid like submerging whales. A second later Annabeth's hand was jerked away from his grip and she disappeared underneath the blood.

"_Annabeth!" _Percy screamed at the rippling redness where he had seen Annabeth vanish. "_You said you weren't going to kill us!" _ He yelled to the cave roof.

"_A promise I intend to keep Percy Jackson._ Gaea's voice rumbled. "_But I didn't say anything about terrifying you."_

Percy dove into the blood lake. He couldn't see anything, the stuff was so thick that it clogged his ears. He felt his lungs at ease; he could breathe. But he held his breath anyway, because there was _no way _he was going to breathe in blood. He felt around frantically for Annabeth. Finally his knee bumped something soft.

He grabbed to it and ascended. He emerged with a gasp, and hauled Annabeth to the open air where she choked and gagged on blood. She was completely coated in it like a second skin. But all Percy thought about was: _She's okay, she's breathing._

Annabeth grabbed a hold of Percy's arm, spitting blood from her mouth. A second later her other arm emerged from the blood grasping of the swords from one of the skeleton's. The blade was huge, bigger and wider than Riptide, and so sharp that Percy couldn't see an end to the blade.

Annabeth drew closer to Percy and raised the sword blade – to her own neck.

"Annabeth! What are you doing?" Percy tried to snatch her arm but she flattened him against the cave wall with amazing strength considering that she had just nearly drown in a lake of blood.

"Let us go Gaea!" Annabeth shouted. She backed so close to Percy that he could feel her heart beating against his ribcage. "Your minions may not be able to kill us – but I will!"

A boom like ice falling off of a glacier shook the cave.

"_Do not bluff girl!"_

The skeleton warriors emerged from the blood, still half submerged to their waists. The one closest to Annabeth glared at her hatefully with dead eyes for holding its sword.

"_There is only one way out, and it is with me!"_

"Not if I spill our blood first!" Annabeth shouted. "Your sacrifice would be useless!"

Percy was wading in a sea of blood in Tartarus, with nightmarish evil skeletons advancing on him and Annabeth. And Gaea was taunting them openly about wanting to sacrifice them in Greece. But he was still in complete awe at the depths of Annabeth's brains.

He grasped the blade above her hands and raised the length of it across his throat. "Chose Dirt Face! What's more important; us now, or as Sacrifices later?"

Annabeth reached out and gripped his fingers on the sword as the first skeleton warrior advanced on them.


	3. Annabeth 2

**xxxxxXxxxx**

**ANNABETH**

When you die, your life is supposed to flash before your eyes. There was nothing said about seeing your life go by when you were pressed against a cave wall in Tartarus being closed in on by evil skeletons in a lake of blood.

But Annabeth saw herself at four-years-old; a flower girl in her dad's wedding to her step mother. The glare on her step mother's face at the way she kept scratching at the itchy tulle from the dress during the ceremony. She saw herself at seven, after she ran away from the spiders in her bedroom, hiding in the alleyway under corrugated roofing tin, holding to a hammer. At Camp Half Blood as she played Capture the Flag. At 16 with Percy after the war in Manhattan. Losing him two months later, their kiss at Camp Jupiter, falling asleep with him in the Pegasus stables aboard the Argos II.

The flashes suddenly grew more rapid, like a scene skip on a DVD; showing her things that she had never seen before. A college graduation. An older version of Percy wearing a tux, her in a long white gown, her father and Percy's mom and step dad smiling at her. Children running on a beach laughing, with dark hair and gray eyes.

Annabeth blinked and gasped. And she was back against the cave wall. The skeletons hadn't moved at all. She felt Percy breathing against her. Her legs were aching, and her broken ankle throbbed like fire. She had no idea how much longer she could keep treading.

"_Kronos could manipulate time. But I was his mother girl. Who do you think taught him his tricks?_"

Gaea was laughing so much that Annabeth was sure she was causing 9.0 magnitude earthquakes above.

The skeleton warriors suddenly vanished like a magic act and the blood started to flow away so rapidly that they were left suspended three feet in mid air before gravity kicked in and they fell.

Annabeth felt Percy grab her hand and catch her midway down. She landed in a heap on top of him, the pain in her ankle making her vision star out for a moment.

They were now lying on the cave floor with much redder rocks than there were previously. Stained in what Annabeth couldn't even pretend was cherry Kool-Aid.

"_I underestimated what you are willing to gamble with Child of Athena, just like Percy Jackson in Alaska_. _But know this girl- Human life is and sifting through an hour glass. It is earth. And I am the Mother of Earth. All life is mine to do as I will."_

A huge chunk of rock broke free from the cave roof. Percy grabbed Annabeth and rolled. The movement wasn't the best feeling for her broken ankle. But neither would be being smashed by a rock the size of a Buick. The stone hit the floor like Gaea was having a break dancing party and splintered into dozens of pieces.

Annabeth crawled out from under Percy to a cloud of heavy dust that stuck to the redness that they were both caked in. It settled in the air like black smoke and dulled the tiny amount of light in the cave.

"Are you okay?" Percy coughed in the haze of dust.

"No," Annabeth answered truthfully. "Not a chance in Hades."

"Personally I'd take Hades right about now," Percy's attempt at humor fell a little flat.

But she was actually grateful that he was trying to act like a dork, it helped keep her grounded.

He stood back up, and she could see his legs were a bit shaky. He held out his hand to her.

Annabeth tested out the weight of her bad ankle. _Still broken._ Percy's makeshift splint was completely sodden with blood which clung to her skin and made it smell horrible. But the thing still held, and that's what counted.

The sword had fallen a few inches behind where they landed. She reached down with Percy's help and grasped the hilt. It's weight was extremely heavy, she could barely lift it. The blade was 12 inches long, wide as a hand span and glowed bronze on one side and a honey gold on the other.

It reminded her of Luke Castellan's sword.

There were a series of carvings on one side of the blade. Annabeth recognized part of it as Greek, then it blended into a series of Roman words. The Greek symbol for _Alpha_ was carved first, but Annabeth couldn't read the Roman part.

Percy turned the flat of the blade towards him and wiped off the blood with his dampened shirt.

The red stains were still there, but they settled into the carvings like painted on the relief on a sculpture.

"This means," Percy scrunched his face like he was trying to remember an obscure face in history class. "A lot."

Annabeth looked at him oddly. "Uh, Percy," She tried to keep her voice even because they had just been through so much. "I know it means a lot. Roman words have numerous meanings in different contexts, especially if they're mixed with another language."

"No," Percy told her and pointed to the end of inscription on the blade. "In Ancient Roman this literally means '_a lot.'_ I saw it on some store signs at Camp Jupiter."

Despite the fact that they had nearly been drowned by Gaea moments ago, Annabeth was still impressed.

"So it says, _Once, a Lot?" _ Percy translated both the Greek and Roman words. "I may be dyslexic, but that's not even a complete sentence. "

"E. Pluribus Unum."Annabeth muttered.

"E. Plumber Unni-" Percy said. "Isn't that what's printed on the back of one dollar bills?"

"It's Latin," Annabeth informed. "It means _'from many, one.'_ But here, it's the same thing, but backwards," Annabeth looked down at the inscription again: '_from one many'_

Percy stopped looking at the inscription and studied the sword itself. Annabeth watched him roam his eyes over the metal. "This sword, it almost looks like-"

"Luke's," she finished, saying what she had thought earlier. "His was half Celestial Bronze and half steel. But it's the same idea."

"One half celestial bronze, one half imperial gold," Percy lowered the blade to the ground like it would attack him. "One weapon made to kill all Demigods, Greek or Roman."

The sword felt huge and heavy in Annabeth's hand, extremely exposed and dangerous out in the open. She wished she had a scabbard for it.

Percy reached out and touched it and she could tell he was trying to see if it would change into something smaller like how Riptide became a ball point pen.

But it was like the sword didn't want to contain its power. Because it remained exactly how it was: long, heavy, and wickedly sharp.

Annabeth placed the tip to the ground. She tried using it as a crutch, but it was too short. She thought momentarily about adding extra length to it with one of the bones. But aside from being nauseatingly disgusting, it would make the sword useless as a weapon.

She kept the blade pointed downward and tried to walk with it. But one bag leg and one heavy sword wasn't a good combination. Percy saw her distress and took the sword for her, resting the flat of the blade against his shoulder. He gripped the inside of his elbow with his free hand.

Annabeth roamed her eyes over the damp cave. The walls of the cave were still full of bones, but there were several gaps, the size of whole skeletons, missing from the stone. The cave was bigger than she had initially thought. It went back 100 yards before the light from the rocks stopped and continued much farther back in shadow.

She glanced both left and right, the skeleton warriors were gone. Her eyes drifted to the blackness with unease. The air grew from cool to frigid and she shivered without any decent clothing.

Percy drew her closer and she was grateful he was there.

"There's no way out except through there," Percy pointed the tip of the sword into the black hole.

He stared at it the same way that she did, like there was something _evil _lurking there.

"We can go back the way we came," he suggested. He seemed as eager to go in the direction of the darkness as she did.

"There's only fire in that direction," Annabeth said. The flames hadn't killed her or Percy, but after what happened, she wouldn't put it past Gaea to make the flames hotter than they were before. Or to place some kind of monster obstacle course amongst them.

Percy raised the sword and started tapping at the stone, like he was testing for a weakness or a fissure. Bits of broken conch shells dropped at his feet, and he gave them a wide berth.

He tapped on the massive rock wall in front of them, left and right, then up. Percy was now 5'9" and the roof of the cave where they were was low. So the tip of the sword managed to graze the shingled rocks above.

The rock where the sword touched began to swirl like a mini vortex. A sound emitted like a door on hydraulics and the rock parted a circular formation as wide as manhole. Gray light shone from the hole and the air began being sucked in.

The air pressure was so strong that the sword in Percy's hand began to be lifted up, and it took it with him.

"Percy!" Annabeth grasped at his fingers the way had done with her when she fell over the edge of the pit. The wind was strong enough to pick her up as well. She pushed down as hard as she could, but her weight just wasn't substantial enough to draw Percy back down. So instead she grasped his wrist in her fingers, and felt his hold to hers in return as the pull of the wind sucked them up into the hole.

There was a moment of utter disorientation, like being sucked _up_ a flume water ride. Then the wind released them both like a giant hand had suddenly letting go of them.

Annabeth landed hard into Percy's side, still clutching his hand.

Percy sat up and she pulled herself up with him. A moment later she was forced to throw her hands up over her eyes as a bright light suddenly assaulted her. She had been in darkness and shadows for so long her eyes were now hyper sensitive. It felt like turning on the lamp at five in the morning to get up for school.

She lowered her hands down slowly as she became accustomed to the change. But no sooner than she able to focus again; she was left slack jawed at the what she saw in front of her.

"Percy-"

Annabeth had been here a hundred times, more than that in the last few months before she left for Camp Jupiter.

Percy stared with the same wide eyed expression at the layout of his apartment building in New York. It was an exact replica, same furniture, same view of the Manhattan skyline out of the fire escape. Even the glass bowl of blue M&M's on the kitchen table was the same.

Annabeth climbed to her feet, Percy followed her, grasping her shoulder to help her the rest of way.

They were right beside his big over stuffed green couch. A playbill from the Broadway show '_Chess' _ rested on the back of the cushions.

Percy picked it up. He looked like he was staring at a ghost. "Paul was going to take mom out to see this on her birthday-" He turned to Annabeth in total confusion. "What is this-?"

Before Annabeth could answer, there came a: '_Percy is that you?'_ from the direction of the kitchen.

Annabeth watched Percy's eyes widen in shock at the sound of his mom's voice. His face drained of what little color it had when Sally Jackson emerged from the kitchen entryway.

A smile was on her face and she held a baking tray with blue oven mitts that smelled of brownies. "How was the movie you two?" She carried the tray over to the table and set it down.

"Mom- What?"" Percy's voice faltered in and out like a dying car battery. "What's going on-?"

Annabeth was still holding onto Percy's hand and she felt his pulse banging against her fingers.

"Annabeth, I hope my son behaved himself," Sally looked over at Percy with the mock teasing disciplined look Annabeth had seen as many times as she had come to the real version of this apartment.

Annabeth was too stunned to speak. Of all the horrors she had heard about Tartarus, she hadn't expected one of those to be _this. _ Some replica of her boyfriend's apartment. Of his mom.

Sally had a long bladed kitchen knife in her hand, and she used it to cut the pan of brownies into squares.

"It must have been a _long_ movie sweetie," Sally lifted some of the brownies onto blue dessert plates with a spatula. Annabeth watched as her eyes rose up to Percy.

"You were gone a long time."Sally stepped over to Percy, a sad, sweet smile on her face.

The sword was slack in Percy's hand, and Annabeth saw no effort by him to raise it. His green eyes were wide, dazed, like he thought he was dreaming.

The form of his mother stepped over to him, and she heard his breath come in pants as Sally's hand reached up to brush his hair. "I missed you baby."

Annabeth watched Percy's eyes close and when he opened them again there was a look that was half angry for believing this lie was his mom, and half sad because he wanted for it to be true.

"You're not my mother," Percy said through a heavy, clipped voice.

'Sally' smiled at him kindly, like Annabeth imaged she had done when he was little. "Of course I am honey," she moved to card her fingers in his hair again.

Percy jerked back and raised the sword at her. "Stay away from me!"

Sally was still smiling. But her smile became twisted, sarcastic. "Shouldn't that be the other way around Percy?"

She circled Percy, like she was appraising him like a good for sale. "You went off on _another_ quest, and left me all alone," She stopped walking, and watched Percy with a cock of her head. "I thought you were _dead_ this time – everyone did." She stood right in front of the sword tip, staring at it like it was nothing. "I cried for weeks – even after Annabeth said you were alive," Her eyes were a dull, flat gray and they flicked over to Annabeth. "You've caused me _nothing_ but pain Percy-I lost your father, I married Smelly Gabe the abuser, I went mad with grief- all because of you-"

"Percy don't listen to her-!" Annabeth insisted.

Percy still held the sword high in his grip, but Annabeth could see the way the thing that was impersonating his mother was getting to him.

Sally held out her hands and suddenly her stripped blue dress became a dirty blue bathrobe, her dark curls became lax and oily. Her eyes became dull with massive dark bags under them. "All of this, is because of you Percy!" She pointed at him accusingly. "This is _your_ fault!"

Annabeth grabbed the sword from Percy's hand and lunged it forward. Sally vanished in a cloud of gray vapor.

She reemerged on Percy's left side, her eyes were now yellow and with slits for pupils like a reptiles. Her hair was sleek, short, and black like the hackles of a wolf and her nails grew out three inches like hooked claws.

She dug them into Percy's chest and he cried out as she threw him into a book shelf. The entire shelf collapsed on top of him.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed.

The creature turned to her. Her skin was scaly and gray, almost reptilian, but she had shaggy hair like a wolf. She looked like something so ancient that Annabeth had no idea of what she really was.

"The Earth Mother has strict orders Athena whore," the creature's voice sounded like hissing snakes. "We cannot kill you or Poseidon's boy -" she smiled with a mouthful of fangs. "But we have no limitations on what we can do in between-" she lunged forward, fangs bared.

Annabeth grabbed at the sword in both hands and brought the flat of the blade down on her head. The creature reared back stunned. Annabeth nearly dropped the sword. She was used to fighting with a dagger, and even the swords she had fought with at Camp were not this heavy. It was like trying to fight with a 50 pound dumbbell tied to her arms.

She could see Percy's hand splayed out from underneath the book shelf, and it was moving. But feebly.

"What – are you?" Annabeth drew her words out to buy Percy some time. But there was some truth in her slow speech. The small amount of fighting had left her already weakened senses exhausted.

"Better than new; I'm _brand_ new!" The creature's snake voice shouted proudly. "A entirely new form of Chimera thought up by our Wise Mother. Part Basilisk, Part Eupenoma, Part Hell hound, and the best part of all three!" She said it like she was promoting herself on an infomercial.

She hissed with a forked tongue, "And when I personally deliver you and Percy Jackson to Gaea, she will reward me with a new, improved body!"

"What?" Annabeth kept glancing back at Percy, praying _Please get up, please get up._ "Better that _all that?_ It looks like you're already pretty high end."

The creature laughed like it was flattered. "I could be better," she eyed Annabeth hungrily. "Say with a head of long blonde tresses and glowing gray eyes-"

A wall of water from the kitchen sink rushed at her, knocking her flat. Percy was crawled half out from the book case, one hand raised to control the water.

Annabeth backed up to him. She dropped the sword and lifted a corner of the shelf with both hands. Percy managed to wiggle out of it and stood beside her.

The – whatever the Hades it was – glared at them hatefully for surviving her traps. "Filthy brats!" Her mouth opened, and a jet of something yellow shot out at them.

Annabeth and Percy dove behind the sofa. Whatever the monster shot at them was like acid. It melted a hole in the green sofa, inches from where their heads had been.

An angry hiss sounded directly above them, and a hot billowing of rancid breath ruffled the hair on the tops of their heads."You will regret this!"

"Not as much as you!" Percy twisted his hand in mid air and slammed a jet of water between the monster's eyes.

She wailed horrible and crashed to the floor, knocking into a curio shelf sending framed family photos raining down on her.

Percy jumped out and grabbed the sword where Annabeth had dropped it by the book shelf. He held it up in a high stance and aimed it at the monster's chest.

He was inches away from the monster when her form suddenly morphed back into Sally Jackson in her blue dress.

"_Percy no!" _the thing wailed in Sally's voice.

Percy was ground to a halt, the blade inches from the face of his mom.

"_No please!"_ the creature held up its hands, fake human eyes full of tears. "_Please don't-"_ It pointed at its chest. "It's me, baby-please it's really me!-"

Annabeth could see the sword shaking in Percy's hand. He drew the blade back, just a fraction of a movement.

The monster looked up to Percy, tear tracks on the face it wore. "I love you Percy-"

Percy screamed a cry and drew the sword down into the monster's chest. It wailed and it's face morphed back into the creature. Then its entire body became a swirl of gray dust that fell in a heap to the floor boards.

Percy pulled the sword back and stared at the pile of gray ash. A silver framed photo was half buried in it. He bent down and picked it from the dust and wiped it off on his shirt.

Annabeth stepped over to him, looking at it. It was a photo of Percy and his mom taken at their Montauk cabin last winter break.

Percy stared at the image of his mom. Annabeth could see tears swirling in his eyes.

"Percy-It wasn't her – you didn't -" She grabbed his hand. "You'll see her again-"

Percy dropped the picture back in the dust and jerked from her grip walking down the back hallway.

"Percy!" Annabeth chased after him. She found him in the mock version of his bedroom. Like his real room it was messy. A blue comforter laid half off an unmade bed. Posters of _Awolnation_ and _Fall Out Boy_, two of Percy's favorite bands were tacked above his bed next to a white and blue Yankees pennant. Candy wrappers were littered all around the trash can. Camp sparing weapons intermixed with dirty clothes thrown around on the floor.

"Percy-" Annabeth made her voice as gentle as possible. But a second later her eyes widened when she saw him strip off his tattered and filthy shirt and reach for one of the crumpled ones on his fake bed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not wearing a pile of rags if I don't have too," Percy answered sliding his arms into the gray shirt.

"None of this is _real_ Percy!" She reached out to grab it from him, but he yanked it back.

Percy placed the wrinkled shirt to his nose and sniffed it. "Smells like mine."

"Because she _wants _you to think that it's yours!" Annabeth cried. "This is all an illusion ; this apartment, this stuff, she's doing this to get to you!"

"I know Annabeth," Percy looked at her with eyes that depicted complete clarity. "But if I can wear fake _clean_ clothes, even for a bit. I'll take it." he slid the shirt over his body.

Annabeth waited for something horrible to happen. Like Percy to burst into flames, or evil reptiles to spring from the fabric and tear off his flesh. But nothing happened. But Annabeth still eyed the shirt like it was alive.

"I'm fine," Percy reassured her. He dropped his jeans so fast that she didn't have time to turn around.

"Percy!" Annabeth covered her eyes with her hands and turned around for him.

"We're in Tartarus Annabeth," Percy reminded. "There are more shocking things to see."

She turned back around and glared at him, finding him in a wrinkled pair of 'jeans' and a gray crew neck shirt. "Gods you are insane! What if-"

"What if we fall into Tartarus because of this and monsters try to attack us?" Percy cut in. "Oh wait, that's already happened."

"Percy that isn't funny!" Annabeth snapped.

"I know it's not." His words took on a deadly serious tone. "I don't like this any more than you do, but if wearing this fake stuff helps me survive this, so we can get out of here- so I can see my mom," his words died out for a moment at the mention of her. "I'm going to do it. I promised her I would come home Annabeth."

Percy turned away to where the fake book shelf in his fake room stood, cluttered with old homework assignments and photo booth pictures of them at a street fair taped to corner of the rectangular mirror.

Annabeth heard him move the clutter around, like he was looking for something. Then he suddenly swept off all the mess with the blade of the sword and it fell like a waterfall to the floor. He dropped his head down in between his bent arms.

Annabeth approached him, and grabbed his shoulders, turning him around. She cocooned herself into his arms and she felt him hold her back.

"_Such a beautiful moment, my Sacrifices-"_

Annabeth pulled away from Percy as the rumbled voice turned into actual rumbling and dropped a huge piece of plaster to the ground.

"_But Tartarus has no use for beauty. Only for punishment. You have killed one of my children-I see that I have to _break_ you both more before I bring you to Greece."_

The wall that Percy's dresser was on broke inward like a set of double doors. A wall of flames shot out at them like a blow torch, burning straight through the dresser like kindling.

Annabeth felt the flames singe her arm. She and Percy moved as one and made a leap for the bed. They landed side by side on the mattress which squeaked like a wave under their shoes.

The dozen reptile heads of a Hydra broke its way into the room, snapping and spitting.

Percy slashed at the monster with the sword, avoiding the heads with the blade.

Annabeth cursed herself for being weaponless. She reached above the bed for the curtain rod and yanked it off the wall. She wielded it like a blade and thrust it at the closest Hydra head.

It caught the monster it the eye and it wailed. Another head shot out and snapped the rod up in its jaws. Annabeth jerked it out of its mouth and brought it down hard on the head. That head shook itself like it was dizzy.

Annabeth moved to attack the next one when she suddenly found herself airborne. One of the heads had grabbed a hold of her shirt and was holding her up in its mouth like a puppy's scruff.

"Annabeth!" Percy slashed at the head with his sword, but it ducked away, dragging Annabeth backwards towards the hole in the wall.

"No!" Percy reached out for Annabeth's hand. His fingers locked to the tips of hers, and he slashed again. His cut went high, and a Hydra head rolled to the floor by his feet.

A double set of flames emerged as two new heads sprang from the neck, shooting fire directly at the sword.

The metal glowed red hot and Percy dropped it with a cry.

The Hydra started to back away, dragging Annabeth with it. She tried to wiggle out of her shirt, but the monster had too much of the fabric in its mouth. She pulled at the collar with her bare hands, trying to get the fabric to rip. The camp shirt was in tatters from the flames, and it started to tear.

She felt Percy grab a piece of cotton in his hand when he realized what she was doing. The shirt started to break free, she felt herself sliding down.

But then one of the Hydra's new heads coiled its neck around her waist and yanked her back so quickly she gasped in pain.

"Percy!" she reached out for his hands; she saw him dive to grab her fingers. But the Hydra head moved back into the hole and the wall closed up, and Percy was gone.


	4. Percy 2

xxxxXxxxx

**PERCY**

"Annabeth!"

The hole in the wall had closed back up, the dresser back in tact in front of it like nothing had happened.

Percy pounded on the stucco, screaming Annabeth's name again. The wall dented slightly from the impact, but didn't yield.

He raised the sword blade to the wall, but nothing happened like before. No hole opened up, nothing. Percy swore, beating the wall with the blade. Bits of plaster fell down like snow around him.

He raced back into the fake living room. The ash of the monster that had impersonated his mom still sat in a heap on the ground. Percy had no idea if monsters even reformed in Tartarus, but he kicked the dust around with his shoe to make it harder for the creature if such an act were possible. On a second notion, he stuck some of the monster dust into his pocket, praying that he wasn't just crazy.

He ran back into the fake bedroom, and drew on all his strength to summon the water from the plumbing in the kitchen again. For whatever reason Gaea had included the water in her illusion of his home. It might have been a trap. But it had worked before, and even if it was, he didn't care.

She wasn't taking Annabeth from him.

He heard the pipes blast apart, but instead of water, a rush of blood sprayed into the room like a wave. Percy jumped back from the red spray.

"_Perseus, still so scared of a little blood?"_ the voice seemed to be smiling. _"Your precious Annabeth is screaming for you, and you cower like an infant- you are no hero."_

Percy mastered himself, and drew on his power. He thought of Annabeth, scared and alone. This time he didn't pull away, he arched the blood like the wave of a tsunami, slamming it right into the dresser. The blood wave broke the dresser apart, and the wall behind it began to melt like acid, opening a hole into the plaster.

Percy dropped his hand and the blood splashed back like waves breaking on the sand.

"_I'm impressed boy. Your power is stronger than even you want to believe."_

Percy made a lewd hand gesture to the ceiling. He picked up the sword and ran head long through the dark hole.

His feet splashed on something liquid like he was wading through a shallow riverbed. He ran for only about 15 seconds in darkness when he emerged into bright sunlight. He was on Thalia's Hill at Camp Half Blood.

It was like a sucker punch. Percy hadn't seen the camp in almost a year. The canoe lake echoed with the sounds of campers competing in races. Apollo's cabin was having an archery lesson. The strawberry fields wafted a thick, sweet smell.

Water nymphs giggled at the canoe lake; and a group of Satyrs lounged beside them, playing songs for them on reed pipes. One of the satyrs Percy recognized. Thick hair, tiny curled horns, a _Bono Live at the Apollo_ shirt above his naked hindquarters.

"Grover!" Percy ran to the edge of the canoe lake. He knew that this was an illusion, that it wasn't the real Grover. But he had only seen Grover in misted dreams. Seeing his friend for the first time clearly in almost a year, even it was just an illusion – he couldn't help himself.

"Grover!" Percy shouted to the Grover illusion once he got right to him. "Hey man, it's me! I don't have a lot of time. I'm not even sure if you can even _help me,_ but I need to know if you've seen Annabeth-"

Grover turned his head in Percy's direction. _"_Annabeth-"

"Yes!" Percy was relieved that Illusion Grover had heard him. "Gaea brought her here. I'm afraid she's hurt. You have to help me find her!"

Grover didn't respond, his eyes moved past Percy like he didn't see him and they rested on the Athena Cabin.

He stood up amidst protesting water nymphs and walked past Percy like he was a ghost.

"Grover wait!" Percy followed the satyr up over to the ring of camp cabins. Noises of the Hermes cabin playing poker blasted out from their windows. Grover walked through the door of Cabin Nine, Athena's cabin. Percy ducked in right behind him.

Percy gaped. Annabeth and her siblings were all braniacs. They rarely slept, so all their beds were pushed against the wall and the space was taken over by dozens of computers and tables with battle strategies and plans, and books. It was always cluttered place.

But it was never like this. The entire middle of the floor was stacked almost to the ceiling with scrolls and opened books. A peanut butter sandwich on a plate had been taken over by green mold like a putting green, and a glass of milk stood rancid and yogurt thick beside it.

"Annabeth-" Percy saw her sitting in the middle of the pile in a pair of plaid pj bottoms and a blue tank top that looked like they hadn't been washed in a week. Her hair was oily and fixed into a haphazard bun on the back of her head.

Annabeth didn't look up when Percy called her name like when he had called Grover's. Percy thought for a moment that she was part of the illusion. But he could see a faded patch of sodden orange on her bare foot from the split he had made. This Annabeth was real.

Percy knelt beside her. "Hey-" He touched her shoulder. "Annabeth, look at me-" She didn't move, or react to his touch. Her hands flipped frantically over the book in her lap, which contained a collection of Greek symbols.

"Annabeth."

Fake Grover spoke her name. And this time Annabeth raised her head from her book.

"Take a break." Grover came inside the cabin, drawing back slightly from the smell of rotten food. "Piper said you've been at this all night-"

"I have to find him Grover," Annabeth's voice was broken and fractured sounding.

"I know you do," Grover's hooves clip clopped over to her. "But you haven't slept in days. You're going to fall apart if you keep going like this-"

"You don't understand!" Annabeth snapped. "I HAVE TO FIND HIM!" Her eyes looked slightly manic, glazed. "It's been almost 5 months-" Her voice watered into sadness. "I have too Grover!" she broke. "I need him- I can't do this without him anymore-" A sob came to her mouth. "I can't," she drew her knees up to her chest and cried.

It was like Coach Hedge had beaned Percy in the head with the bow of the Argos II. Annabeth sounded so lost and scared.

This is what she sounded like the entire time he was missing. It broke something in him into a million pieces.

"You're going to have to Annabeth," Fake Grover said it with such a calm voice that Percy felt chilling finger tips dance their way down his spine.

Grover knelt down beside her. "Percy's dead."

Percy watched Annabeth shake her head at him in disbelief. "No!-"

"I'm afraid so," Grover's voice was a happy sing song kind of tone. "Gaea killed him in Alaska. There's not even a body to bury." He reached out and stroked Annabeth's hair and her crying grew louder.

"Annabeth don't listen to him!" Percy pushed his way in-between Grover and Annabeth and grabbed Annabeth's face.

"He died drowning," Grover went on mockingly. "She drowned him. It was excruciating, especially for a son of Poseidon."

Annabeth broke into another sob, her body rocked with the force of them. "_No, no, no!-"_

"He's lying Annabeth!" Percy shook her head. "None of this is real! I'm here! Annabeth look at me! I'm here!"

Grover's eyes suddenly shifted from their normal brown to a glinted gold. "You make things too difficult Jackson." Grover knocked Percy back with a force that the real Grover wouldn't be able to do.

Percy was sent flying backwards into the row of unused bunks. Reams of homework paper fell onto his head, a mini Macbook Pro smacked him in the face, rattling his teeth.

Grover stood up, but as he walked over to Percy his hooves began to morph into claws, his human skin and goat fur turned into thick black plumage and the hooked beak of a Fury.

"Things would be _much_ simpler if you and your little Athenian trash just came along like a good sacrifices."

"Don't talk about my girlfriend you waste of feathers!" Percy slashed at the Fury with the sword. She dodged it and flew high up on the top most section of bunks, picking up all the hidden gadgets the Athena kids stored there to work on at night when they were supposed to be asleep.

iPhones, iPads, Samsung Galaxy's tablets, and a few hand held PS2's catapulted at him like ammunition. He ducked and rolled his way through them. The Fury swopped down on him and grabbed the sword hilt in her talons.

She jerked it from him and sent it sliding underneath one of the bunks. She snatched Percy's arm in her beak and flung him like a rag doll into a stack of books at the back of the cabin.

Percy slid over dozens of books, his head connected to the back of the wall hard. It left him stunned.

"_You will be my prize to claim!"_ The Fury swopped at him with a rush of feathers and an angry snapping beak.

Percy grabbed a unabridged OED the size of a mini television and prepared to hurl it at her face. But before he got the chance too she screamed and dissolved into a cloud of gray dust.

Percy shielded his face but still got a mouthful of dead monster dust. When he blinked his eyes opened again, and gagged Fury dust from his mouth he saw Annabeth standing in front of him. She was breathing hard, and the sword was raised in her hand.

Percy stood up and slid down the pile of books like they were lose tiles. "Annabeth –hey- are you okay-?"

Annabeth dropped the sword with a heavy clatter and threw herself at Percy, hugging him fiercely.

"I'm still here," Percy kissed side of her face repeatedly. He pulled back and held her face in his hands. "I'm here," he kissed her once more, deeply in between the eyes.

They were both panting from the overload of emotions . Percy didn't want to let her go, but she pulled away first, but almost like it was painful.

The dust of the Fury lay coated over the haphazard stack of books in the center of the cabin.

Annabeth walked past this in bare feet to a desk where her Daledeus lap top sat glowing. She ghosted her fingers over the keys. Then she touched them tentatively. When nothing bad happened she typed a command.

"It doesn't work!"

Percy watched as she slammed the computer shut in frustration. It wasn't like wearing fake clothes from a fake room. Clothes didn't need to _do_ anything. The Daldeaus laptop was something they could use to communicate with Leo and the others, but only if it did things a real laptop did.

"It would've been too easy I guess," Percy knew that he wasn't exactly being helpful, but the words were already out. He picked up an open book from the stack, a worn copy of The Odyssey. "Gaea created these worlds to mess with our heads," Next to the piles of books was an alarm clock, a fancy kind with a date read, a barometer, world clock, lunar tracker. But all of the displays read: '_55:55'_ "None of these things are supposed to be functional. It's like she trying to mess with our heads- like she wants us to go crazy down here."

"It's a little too late for that Percy," Annabeth's joke fell to the floor. She slid the tie from her blonde hair and started to braid it into an intricate kind of weaving plait.

Her hands moved so fast that Percy could barely watch them. The resulting braid was beautiful, like he'd seen on statutes of Greek maidens. And he thought it looked beautiful on her, but he could see the way her hands shook when she was done. And he knew that she had done the braid as way to shake out of the way Gaea had dressed her like a Barbie Doll for her act to torment her.

Annabeth fingered at the tank top she wore. It was the same one he saw her wear numerous times when she woke up in the morning (when he called her for Councilor breakfast, it wasn't like he – like they _woke up_ together or anything.) But she gripped it like she was wearing something diseased.

Percy sensed her distress. He walked over to the chest of drawers, and opened them until he found a set of clothes that looked like they would fit her and not one of her brothers.

He held out a pair of jeans and a long kind of green shirt with buttons. Annabeth had argued about him dressing in the clothes from the fake Manhattan apartment. But she reached out and took the clothes from him without protest this time.

There was no place private for her to change, and Percy wasn't about to leave her by herself after what happened. So he turned around instead and stared fixedly at picture of Annabeth with Luke and Thalia her first year of Camp. Seeing them happy, seeing Luke, made Percy both angry and sad.

There was a first aid kit on top of the dresser. Percy opened the plastic box' but instead of bandages and other supplies, he found a set of toy doctor supplies. Plastic Band-Aid cut outs, fake medicine dropper with a suspended red liquid that was supposed to be the medicine, a blue plastic stethoscope with foam at the round part at the bottom. They all were intersected with cracks, like they hadn't been used in 50 years. Percy picked up a reflex hammer. It was so brittle that it cracked like dry paper under the weight of his fingers. Brown earth worms and two solid black scorpions, pinchers bared began to push their way out from inside the toy.

He threw the thing back in the box and slammed it shut.

"What is it?"

Annabeth's voice made him turn around. The shirt seemed a little big on her, but she had secured it with a brown belt, and stuck the sword in it like a scabbard.

It didn't look at all comfortable, but one look at Annabeth's face told Percy that she thought it was more practical then lugging it around.

He spotted a replica of her dagger lying next to the lap top; he knew she could see it too. But he also knew she left it there for the same reason that the alarm clock didn't work, and the first aid kid was full of insects. None of the needed practical things in these worlds would do any good. They might even try to kill them.

Percy walked over to where the remains of the Fury sat as a pile of gray ash. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the handful of ash he had placed there from his fake apartment and sprinkled it over the other ash like he was adding salt to French fries.

"What are you doing?"

Percy turned at the sound of heavy clunking coming from behind him. He saw Annabeth hefting the sword and belt up.

"It's from the -" He paused, trying to find a word, he failed. "_whatever_, she was, back there," He swept the toe of his shoe over the dust to mix both of them together. "The monsters might take longer to reform if they're blended together."

The idea sounded stupid now that he said it out loud. But Annabeth was watching him like he was half crazy, but also half brilliant.

"Let me carry the sword," Percy offered, glancing at her waist. "That belt looks too big for you."

"I can manage," Annabeth pulled the belt higher, the sword tip scrapped along the cabin floor. She hefted it back up with a determined, almost defiant look on her face.

"We can take turns," He suggested. He wasn't some big tough macho guy, he just didn't feel right about letting his injured girlfriend lug around the weapons. "When you get tired, hand it off."

"I won't get tired," Annabeth returned.

Her eyes spoke a different story. But Percy knew that she was trying to hold onto her strength, because it was the only weapon she had left.

Annabeth looked around the clutter of the cabin. There was a brief moment where she looked ashamed that he saw how bad she had let things go. But she mastered herself, like he had done with controlling the blood before.

"Ever since we fell, we've just been running-"

"We didn't really have a choice Annabeth," Percy reminded. "Monsters and evil Earth Queens keep trying to do us in."

"No I mean, we jumped down here to find the Doors of Death," she spoke the last words almost like they were taboo. "We can't just keep running and hiding from monsters. We need some idea where to go."

"Any suggestions?" Percy was more than willing to admit that he had _no_ clue how to begin. Tartarus was _huge._ The place was filled with illusions like a honey comb. And it had no definitive landscape, so he had no idea if they were even headed in the same direction as when they left the fire pit.

Annabeth turned to the window. The sounds of campers, the sounds of familiar voices came at them like a gust of wind.

Percy knew they weren't real. After the fake Grover, and the fake version of his mom, he knew that these voices probably were evil, or at the very least just fake things to taunt them. It left an angry, lonely kind of feeling knowing at his gut.

"We need to go to Hades Cabin," Annabeth said.

Percy looked at her: "Why?"

"Think about it," Annabeth said. "Both the doppelganger apartment and this cabin had connections to both of us. Nico is only other Demi God we know that has been down to Tartarus. That connection still might exist inside something that's connected to _him._ We could use it, to try and send a message to him and the others."

"This place isn't even _real,"_ Percy argued. "It's like some kind of creepy, shifting, fun house. Nico might not have even seen the same things we have-"

"Nico loves camp as much as we do," Annabeth interrupted. "I can almost guarantee Gaea," she lowered her voice and looked up, almost to see if Gaea was listening. "She probably tormented him the same way she tormented us. With things and places we love."

"What about Grover?" Percy felt ridiculous for whispering like it would prevent Gaea from listening in on her own home turf. "I have a life connection to him, shouldn't we be trying to contact him?"

"Grover's a satyr, when he dies he'll keep being reincarnated. He won't have any kind of connection to any part of the underworld."

"Please don't talk about Grover dying," Percy said, his voice dead serious. "I've had enough bad luck with death already." Grover had created an empathy link with Percy 4 years ago, so if the satyr died so did Percy. But, Percy wasn't thinking about himself. He was thinking about his friend.

"Sorry," Annabeth apologized honestly. "Nico's our best bet. He's got one of the closest connection to the underworld- and so does Hazel, and they're both together."

Thinking about Hazel finally being with her brother made Percy ache for his own family. For his mom and Paul. It had been a year since he last saw them both. Seeing that fake version of his mom hurt more than he wanted to admit.

"One question though," Percy watched Annabeth shift her eyes to him in curiosity. Even beaten down and haunted, her eyes were exceedingly beautiful. He was glad that she was with him on this. "Gaea's been changing these illusions every time we figure out she's faking us out. If she knew what we were going to do, what's to stop her from doing it again?"

Annabeth's eyes suddenly brightened to a look that Percy hadn't seen since they fell. It said that she was plotting something smart: "We fake _her _out." She whispered the last words. She looked around until she found her NYY invisibility cap lying on a stack of papers. She picked it up and plucked it on Percy's head.

Like the dagger, and the laptop, the cap was useless as a defense item. It was just a regular cap, a little too small on Percy's head, but defiantly _not_ making him invisible.

"Give me your shirt," Annabeth said.

Percy took the cap off, and looked at her like had grown an extra head like a hydra. "What?"

"Hurry up!" Annabeth demanded a bit frantically. She loosened the belt and slid out of the green shirt she had just warn and cast it aside on the littered ground.

Percy stared dumbfounded at Annabeth standing there in nothing but jeans and pale yellow bra. Her skin was tan, her abs were flat and toned from years of camp training, and the rest of her was curvy.

"Percy!" Annabeth sounded impatient, not indignant.

Percy removed her hat and pulled his shirt over his head. There was a brief moment of him realizing they were both half naked together before he threw her the shirt.

Annabeth slid on his T-shirt. It was two sizes too big for her and fell below her waist. Annabeth tore open the tall dresser by a row of desks and dug through them. "Put this on!" She shoved a red shirt with a white Nike swoosh at him.

The shirt was a size too small, it felt like he was wearing a wet suit. He turned to ask her what they were doing when he saw her scribbling furiously on a piece of paper with a black marker.

"The shirt's Malcolm's" Annabeth came over to him. She was holding two stickers. She stuck one on the hat, and the other on the shirt.

Then she reached around his waist, and secured the belt with the sword there. "Hold this too."

Percy had to admit that Annabeth's hands on his waist wasn't an uncomfortable feeling. But the rest of it, was just _weird._

He pulled at the red shirt and stared at the sticker. It took his dyslexia a few minutes to understand what he was reading. And even after he deciphered it; he was still confused as Hades. It was a '_Hello, I'm a New Demigod! My Name Is:_ name sticker complete with grinning Centaur giving the thumbs up. Diyonmous had made them up and forced all new campers to wear their entire first week. (They were widely unpopular, but they made great spit wads to hurl at the wine god.) Annabeth had scribbled: "_Malcolm'_ on it. Percy removed the hat and saw that the other one said: _'Hello I am a New Demigod. My Name is_: '_I am not Percy Jackson.'_ Annabeth had also placed a blank sticker on the sword blade that said: _'iMac Pro (candy apple red)'_

Percy looked at Annabeth like the fall, and all the monsters finally drove her insane.

But she looked back at him like she didn't have time for him to think she was crazy: "This will work Seaweed Brain. Trust me."


	5. Annabeth 3

**ANNABETH**

Annabeth's ankle was starting to throb. She had walked on it without the aid of any type of support for what seemed like hours. It was starting to become excruciatingly painful with each step she took unaided.

She wanted to hold onto Percy as they made their way through the courtyard of cabins at the fake Camp Half Blood. But in order for her illusion to work, she had to play the part.

The courtyard was surprisingly empty. Surprisingly because the real courtyard would be teaming with campers: consular's on their way to sparring practice, Apollo cabin mates attacking Ares cabins with flaming spears. Annabeth was glad that there weren't any 'fake' campers around; but she still kept her eyes watchful because she had no idea if their luck would last.

Poseidon's cabin was on the opposite end of Hades, so the walk was a bit of a long one.

"How is this even supposed to work?" Percy looked down at the nametag on his shirt like it was a giant stuffed panda bear clipped there.

"Gaea tricked both of us with illusions," Annabeth tried to keep her feet in line with Percy. But her wincing started to become audible, and she was limping badly. "I'm doing the same thing," Percy looked at her like she'd grown scales. "It's not magic Percy. It's logic. We hide in plain sight, play the roles-"

"And the kindergarten field trip trackers?" Percy returned.

"It acts like the Mist works on mortals," Annabeth stumbled, but she forced herself not to lean on Percy. "Most monsters have tons of strength, but very small brain capacity. They can usually only process one thing about a demigod at a time-So if they think you're you; but your name tag says you're _not_ who you are and you're my step brother- they will pick what they're supposed to _think _you're are, and not what you're aren't, but really _are_. At least I think. This is all theory."

"Annabeth," Percy looked at her half awed. "You're amazing."

Annabeth might have smiled, had her ankle not shot a dagger like pain up to her eyeballs. She stumbled like someone had thrown a rock at her kneecaps.

"Whoa," Percy reached out and grabbed her arm.

She jerked back. "No!" She felt guilty at the look of hurt confusion on his face. "This Camp Half Blood exists when you were missing; my ankle wasn't broken, and _you. were. missing._ You have to play along-_" _She managed to pull herself up on her feet, though now her face felt beet red, and too hot.

Percy looked half ready to argue, need to escape Tartarus be damned. But a moment later, a flash of red and yellow stepped up to them like a sunset.

"Hey Annabeth," The face of Rachel Dare smiled at them. She was wearing sunshine yellow Indian sari style robes; her bright red hair loose and frizzed around her face. Earrings shaped like the Eifel Tower dangled from each ear lobe.

Annabeth sucked in a breath. Both from the horrendous pain, and the face of someone she hadn't seen in months. Who might even be being attacked by Camp Jupiter soldiers at that very moment. "Rachel, hey." her voice cracked from the pain of her ankle.

Luckily for Annabeth, this time frame of her life at Camp Half Blood wasn't a very happy one. Losing Percy had very nearly destroyed her and she confided in Rachel and Piper about it.

"You look terrible," 'Rachel' said in a voice of concern. "Did you get _any_ sleep last night? Piper said she saw you still working on your laptop when she was going to bed." Rachel looked down at what Annabeth was wearing and her face dipped into a frown. "Annabeth-you didn't take clothes from Percy's bunk again did you?" she sounded like she was half afraid for Annabeth's sanity.

"I want to feel close to him Rachel," Annabeth saw Percy giving her a look at the revelation that she wore his clothes when he was missing. "This is the only way I know how-"

"We're worried about you Annabeth," Rachel insisted. "Chiron too. He wants to talk to you."

"I can't," Annabeth said it so quickly that she knew it didn't sound like her. Even grief stricken over the loss of Percy, Annabeth was still logical. And these fake campers seemed to be pretty darn good replicas of the actual people. So she had to give herself credibility, fast. "I mean, I'm going to see Nico-"

"Nico's not in Camp this week-"

_Freaking Hades. _ Annabeth cursed to herself.

"You know that." Rachel finished. She eyed Annabeth weirdly. "He went to visit the Underworld to talk to his father-"

"Right, I-" Annabeth forced tears to mist her eyes. It wasn't very hard to do. She just had to draw on the real memory of when she was here without Percy. "I forgot. I'm sorry. You're right; I haven't been sleeping." Annabeth pretended to be comforted when Fake Rachel placed a hand on her shoulder. In reality, she was just weirded out. "Nico told me that he had some scrolls. Maps of the Labyrinth that intersected with the Underworld. I thought-"

Fake Rachel looked at her sadly and hugged her. Annabeth would've welcomed the hug had this not been an evil monster wannabe Rachel. Annabeth looked over to Percy and mouthed: '_Help me.'_

"Nico told her she could get them." Percy said. He was talking unusually high. Like in a falsetto if someone had kicked him in a certain area."The scrolls I mean. She thinks they may help her find m-_Percy. _Find Percy. And. The scrolls."

The monster Rachel pulled back from her embrace on Annabeth. Thankfully, she seemed to be on the lower receiving end of brain cells from Gaea, because she didn't question Percy's stuttering. "I'll delay you with Chiron for thirty more minutes Annabeth, okay. But he _really_ wants to talk to you."

"I'll be there," Annabeth lied. She turned to Percy. "Come on Malcolm."

She and Percy moved past 'Rachel' who, thank the Gods, didn't try to follow them. They passed other 'campers'. None of whom tried to talk to them. They walked until the obsidian black bricked cabin of Hades came into view.

Green torches hung on either side of the doorway and flickered like ghosts as they stepped inside.

Annabeth had only been inside the real cabin only a handful of times. And the replica was the same. The walls were solid black, and hung with over a dozen torches like the outside. A low hammock like swing made of deadwood sat in the middle of the rectangular space and half a human skull sat on the night stand with a red candle melted to the top of it.

There was a gold canary cage sitting on a stand against the wall and a skeletal bird flew around happily munching what looked like tiny rubies.

"What was that about back there?" Percy plucked a ruby from off the black wooden floor and held it out to the bird with his fingers. The skeleton bird flapped off its perch and snatched the gem from Percy's hand.

Annabeth tried to act dumb for the one split second that she thought it would work.

It didn't.

"Gaea didn't create this memory Annabeth, she manipulated it to torture you-" Percy held out another ruby to the bird. It snatched it in its beak and rubbed it's bare skull against his knuckles.

"We don't have time to talk about this Percy!" Annabeth interrupted. She tried to keep her voice even. Even with Percy standing right beside her she could still vividly recall what it was like when he was gone for real. And she couldn't talk about that. Not now. "We need to find a way to contact Nico before we're caught."

"What about an Iris Message?" Percy suggested.

"Tartarus is too far away from the Gods. There's no way Iris could transmit a frequency from this far down."

"She makes mean gluten free snack product ammunition, but she can't get better satellite reception," Percy proclaimed.

Annabeth looked at him: "What?"

"Nothing." He replied quickly. "So how do we get in touch with him then? If Iris Message reception sucks, I doubt cell phones are going to work either, I mean if we had them." He moved to a huge mirror made of silver glass. The mirror distorted his image like a funhouse one.

"Nico probably touched things in this cabin," Annabeth said. "Human contact leaves traces in the Underworld, and it stands to reason, in Tartarus too. If we can tap into that and picture him on board the Argos we should be-" Her ankle spiked in a merciless pain and she fell backwards. She made a last ditch effort to grab onto the bird cage. It swayed like Charon the Ferryman's lantern and the skeleton parrot squawked in offense.

Percy shot out to catch her. "Annabeth!" His arms encircled her. "Annabeth – hey! I got you!"

The pain was making Annabeth lose focus. Her vision started to gray out. She blinked furiously to remain conscious. "Percy-" Annabeth had watched the way Percy stared at the way the mirror portrayed his reflection. It was something that someone would be drawn too. Especially if they lived here and had walked into an exact replica of it. "Percy." She dug her good heel into the floorboards and used it as levered herself back up. "The mirror, we can use the mirror."

She started hobbling towards it. Percy grabbed her waist and she felt herself being supported as he took on much of her weight.

The mirror was above a gold dresser. It seemed kind of girly for a son of Hades to have a gold dresser. But the thrown of the Underworld was full of precious metals and jewels. And Annabeth had met Hades sitting on a golden throne surrounded by jewels. And, there wasn't anything girly about it. The dresser came just under her chest, and she propped herself up on her elbows. Percy's arm was still secure on her waist.

Annabeth set her palm flat on the mirror. It was as cold as ice from a freezer. "Put your hand on top of mine." She was making this all up as she went along.

Percy's hand went warm on top of hers, his skin felt rough and chapped.

"Focus on Nico. Think about the sound of his voice, his face." _Mother._ Annabeth wasn't even sure if Athena would even _hear_ her. Or if she was so far gone into her split personality of Greek and Roman that she would care to listen. But she prayed anyway. _Please. Help Us._

For a long time, too long for Annabeth, nothing happened. She began to feel a creeping note of panic. She pressed her hand harder into the mirror like she hoped it would melt through and grab Nico above ground But it was too _cold_ for any melting. Her skin felt like a popsicle.

Just when she was about to give up, the battered face of Nico D'Angelio appeared grainy and in black and white like a bad reception on an Iris Message.

"Nico!" Annabeth's breath frosted over the silver glass.

"-_abeth?!" _

Nico's voice was as static filled as the image. But Annabeth still saw his eyes widen in disbelief at seeing her, then Percy. "_-ercy?"_

"Nico!" Percy stared at the image of Nico. The image wasn't as clear as an Iris Message and faded in and out. The picture was black and white and grainy.

"We're alive!" Annabeth didn't try to explain how they had managed to make contact. She didn't know how much time they had before they were found out. Not all monsters were stupid. "We need to know what direction the Doors of Death are down here!"

Nico's expression seemed to hesitate, like he was scared to answer. _"-on't know. Monsters wouldn't le' me stop,"_ his voice kept fading like bad stereo speakers. "_azel, thinks is beast-"_

"What?" Annabeth found herself nearly shouting like she had suddenly lost her hearing. She quickly lowered her voice, darting her eyes to the window and the opened door. The connection had gotten poorer, like Hazel was talking how Annabeth tried to spell with her dyslexia. The quickest reasoning she could come up with was that because the link was meant for _Nico_, it was weakened when someone else tried to communicate with it.

"_-East!"_ Hazel's voice came through like a burst of static. Annabeth couldn't see her face, like she was off camera somewhere doing a voice over. _"Head north, north east, towards Grce-"_

_Of course._ Now that Annabeth heard it out loud it was all so simple. "The Doors of Death in the human world are supposed to be in Greece." Annabeth whispered this to Percy, her eyes darted back and forth to the doorway. She didn't like how it stood so empty. She would be less unnerved if monsters were attacking them. This felt like a calm in the center of a hurricane. "The guys must have found out that it's in one of the southern islands. But we're down here, so we have to go _north_ instead of south!"

In her excitement Annabeth forgot to lower her voice. Too late she realized her mistake when a voice came from behind her:

"_What are you guys doing?"_

Annabeth and Percy spun around and saw Piper standing there.

"Piper," Annabeth said quickly. She the Piper doppelganger walk into the cabin. She was cloaked in shadow for a moment from the sun behind her. "We were just getting a scroll- from Nico."

Piper was dressed in a dark cream tunic over jeans with a tortoise shell belt, an eagle feather braided in her dark hair. It was the same kind of outfit that real Piper wore all the time. Pretty, but with an original quality. But when these features came into view from the shadow, so did the expression on Piper's face.

A cold dead looking expression. Her mouth formed into a grin that was eerily twisted. "I'm sorry," Piper was now right in front of Annabeth and Percy.

"But that's not going to happen." Something was happening to Piper's skin. It began to melt off like wax in huge globs, revealing huge peeking of white bone. _"Sacrifices,"_ The voice was a discordant thing. Like someone trying to play a melted piccolo.

The skeleton warrior glared angrily at Percy, a braid of Piper's long dark hair still stuck to the top of its skull. Piper's eagle feather suddenly became huge and dropped from the braid of hair. It was now a sword, identical to the one Percy was holding.

"_You will give me that weapon boy," _The skeleton's voice grew more nightmarish with each word. _"And you will stop LYING about things – Perseus Jackson."_

"When are you fugly pretards going to realize that it's _Percy!_" Percy twirled the sword like a baton. It cut the air with 'whooshing' noises before he brought it back into a fighting stance. "And if you want this sword, come and get it!"

Annabeth never missed her dagger more than that moment. She felt Percy push her behind his body. There was a harsh clanging of both swords meeting each other with a wail of metal.

Annabeth searched frantically for some kind of weapon. For a son of Hades, Nico's cabin was surprisingly absent of weaponry. But she knew the Tartarus world was meant to torture them. And one of those tortures was no weapons. Her eyes flicked back to the mirror. She rammed her elbow backwards into the mirror, hard, using all her strength. It shattered into large shards. Whatever it was made of it wasn't thick, but it was incredibly sharp and sliced a jagged gash in her forearm.

Annabeth could hear Nico's staticky voice behind her. The connection was still there. She willed it to stay as long as it could. But her will had to soon bend to pure physics as the skeleton warrior slashed a direct hit at her head. She arched backwards in an almost Matrix Move. Almost because she had to push herself back up with a hand on the wall. And because she came back with a giant piece of sharp silver mirror shard the size of a bowie knife and sliced it across the skeleton's chest, breaking five of its rib bones.

The shard sliced into her hand, rivulets of blood dropped down her fingers, making it slippery to hold. She got in good quick jabs, but there was no flesh to hit and it made the aim harder. The skeleton's ribs now swung like a broken cage door. It's empty eye sockets glared at her hatefully. It swung another attack at her, but she ducked right into a slide, her broken ankle rattling pain up her teeth

Percy clashed his sword to the skeleton's. The metal of their swords banged and twirled. The skeleton's sword was knocked out of its hand and slid under the birdcage.

The skeleton roared like a predatory animal and grabbed Percy by the throat and kicked him into the mirror. His back cracked the rest of the glass.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried out.

"_Sacrifices!"_

The skeleton's voice amplified by a hundred fold. Annabeth had slid by one of the windows in the front of the cabin. And when she pulled herself up on the ledge and peered out she saw a horrible sight.

Camp Half Blood campers approaching en mass. As they drew closer, their skin and clothes melted down to skeletons. All of them holding a glowing bronze and gold sword.

"_You will be ours!"_ The rushed through the courtyard as one, right towards them.

The sound of their cries was a wailing screech. But suddenly a noise rose above the deafening roar.

It was Percy screaming.

Annabeth whipped back around to see the skeleton warrior twisting its sword deep into Percy's side.

"_No!"_ Annabeth cried.

The skeleton pulled up as Percy dropped to the ground, clutching at his side and gasping.

Annabeth limped into a run, dragging her broken ankle behind her. The skeleton stood over Percy and raised its sword again. And Annabeth could see the utter glee in its black eyes. She jumped on her good leg and threw herself on top of his body.

She screamed again as the blade slashed into her back.

"_ENOUGH!"_ Gaea's voice broke the roof of the cabin and a blinding beam of sunlight poured down on to them.

"_Do not PLAY you worthless warrior! If one drop of their blood spills in Tartarus from your sword they will be useless! Bring them to me, NOW!"_

"Percy!" Annabeth saw a growing puddle of blood flooding Percy's shirt. She pressed her hands down on top of it and heard him groan from the pain. His skin was gray, and his eyes were glassy. "Stay with me!"

"Annabeth," Percy touched her face with bloody fingers. "I- I love-"

"Shut up!" Annabeth cried out, hot tears on her face.

The cabin erupted into noise as the rest of the skeleton warriors broke into the cabin like a swarm of locusts. They knocked over the furniture, smashed the birdcage. The skeletal parrot flew out the window with a cawing cry.

Skeletal hands began to grab at her clothes and hair pulling her up into the air. Annabeth jerked, but more hands took the place of the ones she shook off.

"Annabeth!" Percy cried. He pulled himself up onto his elbows and grabbed her wrist. "Don't touch her!"

One of the skeleton warrior yanked Annabeth's and Percy's hands apart. It took its sword and slammed it hard into the side of Percy's head. He dropped back down.

"_Percy!"_ Annabeth screamed, she watched his limp form being lifted into the air by a dozen hands like a pig about to be spitted for a feast.

Percy was being born away through the open doorway by the skeleton warriors. Annabeth screamed for him again. She was being taken in the same direction. But Percy had vanished in the sea of skeletons.

"_PERCY!" _ She fought harder. She slashed with the mirror shard she still held, clawed at eye holes and kicked apart ribs with her good foot.

Something caught her broken ankle and squeezed it. Blinding red pain shot through her entire body, and she dropped the shard of glass.

Bony fingers gripped her head backwards by her hair. Black soulless eyes stared at her. "_Sacrifices!"_

She felt herself being propelled forward at tremendous speed, right into the obsidian lintel of the cabin doorway. Her forehead smacked into the stone like a battering ram. Pain exploded behind her eyes, the world became gray, smaller.

Annabeth blacked out with Percy's name a dying scream on her lips.


	6. Nico 3

**NICO**

"_Annabeth! Percy!"_ Nico screamed as the fuzzy image of his friends being dragged away by skeletons vanished in the cloudy air of the Mediterranean Sea.

"_Percy! Annabeth!"_ Hazel grabbed at the air above Nico's head like she could bring the image back. A gull flew over the cloud where the image had just been.

"What?-" Frank sputtered like a car engine. His eyes were wide. His face half turned into something reptilian like he couldn't master his transformation power. "What happened? Where are those things taking them?"

"I don't know," Nico said.

"Are they _dea-"_

"_I don't know!"_ Nico shouted, startling Frank's features back to their normal settings. He stared at the eyes of the others on the deck of the Argos. A heavy wind had picked up from an approaching storm, blowing all their hair back like they were on a rollercoaster ride.

He had just seen one of the most gruesome sights he had seen in his life. And that was a lot to say coming from a son of Hades, who had walked through Tartarus. The nightmares he still had about the place were bad enough. But it did not compare to seeing his friends being tortured and dragged off screaming in front of his eyes.

"They can't be _de-"_ Hazel didn't finish, like she couldn't bring herself to say it. "Gaea said she needed them alive to sacrifice them in Greece."

"We're still 100 miles away from the Greek coastline!" Jason said angrily. The wind blew shirt around like a billowed sail and he had to shout to be heard above it. "If this storm keeps up it will take almost a day to sail that far! If Gaea gets Percy and Annabeth there before we do-!"

"It's the same distance!" Nico shouted above the wind. "Tartarus is like a flipside of our world. Distance is the same, only in reverse! The landscape down there is a cavern, it will slow them down. Give us more time to reach Greece-"

"We need to get below deck!" Leo shouted next from where he was manning the helm by Festus' head. "We can't keep shouting or plans to the wind! No telling what's out there with spy equipment in this maelstrom!" He looked like he was fighting just to remain upright.

Nico watched as Leo punched buttons and pulled levers. The enormous dragon head of Festus turned and stared at Leo with gleaming eyes.

It emitted a series of squeaks that Leo seemed to understand and turned its attention back towards the battering waves of the sea.

Leo jumped down and was immediately blown over by an enormous rush of wind and white cap wave that crested over the side of the ship. He scrambled for purchase on something solid.

Nico rushed over and offered Leo his arm.

"Thanks!" Leo shouted like a badly acted high school play and pulled himself up. "I put Festus on Auto Pilot. He should steer us through this storm unless it gets worse!"

"That's not comforting!" Nico shouted back, his voice almost swallowed by the wind.

"I know!" Leo shouted back. He slapped Nico on the shoulder in a death grip to remain upright. "C'mon! Let's go get some hot chocolate!"

**xxxxXxxx**

The meeting area of the ship creaked back and forth like a waterbed. The bewitched golden plates Leo had taken from camp flew off their shelves and slid to the floor. Two of them shattered before Nico had the good sense to grab the plates and store them in the cabinet under the buffet style counter.

Nico had only been on this ship for a few days, but it still impressed him how _huge_ it was. The rooms themselves were actually pretty modest. Big and stately, but not extravagant. But, combined together, the Argos II was a very impressive war ship.

Hazel stood by the buffet counter stirring a golden pitcher with steam rising out from it. She started pouring the hot drink mixture into ceramic mugs with advertisements for _Hephaestus TV. _on them.

Nico watched Hazel do this, studying her hands, her gestures. His other sister Bianca was graceful, careful, almost proper. She had looked out for Nico ever since their mother died, or since he could _remember_ (which wasn't a lot given the fact they had spent almost 40 years in the Lotus Casino).

Hazel was from the same era as them. But she didn't behave like a finishing school graduate. She accomplished tasks with practicality not gracefulness.

She was no Bianca.

Nico sometimes wished for her to be; but he realized that wasn't fair. He couldn't mold one sister into another.

"What _was _that?" Hazel thrust the tray of hot chocolate into Nico's hands; h almost dropped it. His body was still weak from living in a Death Trance. But he kept the tray up right.

"I've never seen that before," Nico walked the tray of mugs carefully over to the table where the others were gathered and started passing them out.

"It looked like a Iris Message," Jason was the first to receive his mug of cocoa; but he didn't do anything except rest his hands above the steam like he was warming them.

"Dude, Tartarus is a little too long distance for Iris Messages," Leo drank deep from his mug and came up with a cocoa mustache. He passed on the Hydra animal crackers Hazel offered.

"So _what _ then?" Piper wasn't drinking, like Jason. She simply rested a hand on the handle of her mug. She had been below deck, but had been informed by a very wet looking Leo about what they had seen. "You both said you _saw_ Percy and Annabeth. That they were being attacked-by skeletons" her voice fell away. She gripped the mug so tightly that she snapped the handle off.

"Pipes, Leo is right," Jason turned from his seat beside her to look at her. "Tartarus isn't like Hades. It's beyond the reach of the Gods. There's no way an Iris Message could reach that far-"

"Then Annabeth found a way," Piper cut in on her boyfriend. She dropped the broken mug handle to the table top. "It's the only thing that makes sense."

"She's right," Nico stood by the only remaining chair around the rectangular table. The four days he spent in a giant monster jar had done something to the muscles in his legs. They locked on him and make sitting or lying down too long a torture device. He had gotten out of his bunk on the second night post Jar Rescue much to Hazel's chagrin because it felt like his muscles being stared at my Medusa. So he chose to stand most of the time.

"I've known Annabeth longer than any of you. She was always scary smart. If they got through to us, it's because of her." Nico had a secret crush on Annabeth from day one. Ever since she leapt on that monster's back and saved his life. He thought she was amazingly brave, and smart. And cute. But he had seen how Percy looked at her, and he had been just 12 at the time and unclaimed, no competition for a son of Poseidon.

It didn't work out. But seeing her with Percy now, he was glad it didn't.

Especially now.

Nico's stomach twisted up like the trees in his stepmother's garden in Hades. "She'll figure out the coordinates I gave her."

"How will that be of any use if those _things_ are dragging her and Percy off to kill them?" Frank jerked so fast that he spilled his cocoa onto the table.

"Frank!" Hazel snapped, her voice was electric hot. Nico could sense the temper of their father coursing through her. But Frank's face fell into a honest kind of look and her anger seem to cool. " Don't say that! We'll get them back! If-" she faltered and looked over at Nico.

Nico watched her expression change like she didn't want to say what she was about to say. "If those – skeletons – bring Annabeth and Percy to the House of Hades we just have to beat Gaea there before she can sacrifice them."

"But what about the Doors of Death?" Nico too asked something he didn't want to. "If Gaea brings them out the Doors into my father's house in Greece, then we'll never be able to close them."

"They're our _friends_ Nico!" Piper insisted. "We'll find some other way to close the doors!"

"I promised Percy I would do this!" Nico shouted above her voice. "I told him I would lead us to the doors so we all can close them together!" Nico knew that Percy never really saw him on even ground. Especially after tricking him at Camp Jupiter. But he'd always respected Percy; he saw him almost as a big brother. And he didn't want to let him down. "I _promised_ him Piper!"

Piper's face burned red hot, there was a prickling of tears at the corner of her eyes. She stood up from the chair and stormed out of the room.

"Piper!" Jason stood up and ran after her.

"She's just upset," Hazel's face, framed in a halo of honey gold hair, turned to Nico. "Annabeth and her are very close friends."

"I don't want to lose them either," Nico insisted. "But _I'm _ their friends too Hazel. If we don't do this, then we lose _everything."_

"Okay, on _that_ ominous note," Leo piped up like a bit of comic relief. He couldn't help it sometimes. Humor was like a twitch when he was nervous. "I'll got confer with Festus on our exact location. If I can convince him to let me tinker under his hood we might be able fly above the storm like jet engine speed and beat Dirt Face to Greece. Though Festus might not be able to handle all that juice. But hey, if he explodes at least the rain will stop most of the fires." Leo looked to Frank. "Care to lend a hand Frank?"

"I guess," Frank sounded a little baffled like he wasn't use to working with Leo, or wasn't a fan of it. "But you better be joking about the fires Valdez." He pushed back his chair and followed Leo out a second doorway across the room from where Piper and Jason had vanished beforehand.

"So can you transform into a rain poncho to keep us dry?" Leo's voice said when they were both out of sight.

"Bite me Leo," came the disembodied voice of Frank.

Hazel and Nico were now left alone. Hazel was still sitting down in her chair. She swirled a thumb in her cocoa, obviously not hot anymore, because she wasn't burning herself.

"There's another way Nico." Her thumb stopped swirling. "You said it yourself-"

"I just stepped out of a air tight glass jar, Hazel," Nico returned. "I wasn't thinking clearly." The muscle in his right lower leg gave a painful spasm. He bent and rubbed it over his frayed jeans.

"Then why bring it up?" Her dark eyes flashed intensity.

Nico recalled the first night after he'd been freed from the monsters. It was also the first night after Annabeth and Percy had fallen into Tartarus. He had laid in his bunk half delirious with pain; and he had seen things in his dreams, heard voices .

He had awoken with a scream, and to Hazel sitting at the foot of the bed with a wet rag. He had told her his dream with a racing heart and watched her eyes get wider and wider at what he described.

"Nico," Hazel abandoned her cocoa and her chair and walked around the table to him. "This could _work._ We could close the Doors of Death _and_ save Percy and Annabeth. No one has to die-"

Hazel's words were cut off when an enormous '_thump' _sounded above their heads.

Hazel stared at the ceiling like she hadn't had very good luck with enormous thumps on this ship. The thump was soon chased by another one, harder, and what sounded like wood splintering apart.

Nico grabbed his stygmatian iron sword, and Hazel grabbed her Roman Calvary one and both of them ran out the door and up to the deck of the ship.

The rain had died down to normal levels. There were even a few breaks in the gray mass of clouds that hung low in the sky.

The entire deck of the ship was wet like it had just been mopped. And skittering in the middle of it was a black Pegasus. And standing beside it was an enormous roan colored Clydesdale horse.

Nico recognized _Blackjack_ from Camp. But he had no idea who the other horse was. Apparently neither did Blackjack, because the Pegasus' wings were out at full span, and he reared his hind legs, whinnying in fear.

"Easy boy!" Leo had both hands up and was trying to calm Blackjack down. "Easy!"

The Clydesdale looked like it stepped right off an ad for an _Anhiser Bush _Super Bowl commercial. It was a light chestnut; it even had black blinders over its eyes. The horse raised a massive powder white foreleg and seemed to be trying to point it at Blackjack.

Blackjack rose in the air and snapped at the horses' hoof.

"What in _Hades?"_ Hazel drew her sword at the Clydesdale. But she looked like she completely confused about having to slay a mysterious horse that had just appeared on their warship.

"No Hazel don't!" Leo shouted. "It's Frank!"

Both Hazel and Nico lowered their swords in utter bafflement.

Nico had heard about Frank's transformation powers. But this was the first time that he witnessed it. He had to say; it wasn't what he expected. I mean, out of all the things you could chose to change into; why a carriage horse?

"Frank?" Hazel stepped over to the horse/Frank. "What is going on?"

Frank made a bunch of whinnying noises like he was trying to talk human. Blackjack whinnied something that sounded like a horse curse and shot a stream of spit at Frank's hooves.

Piper and Jason burst through the gallery door and onto the deck, Jason had his sword drawn and Piper had her dagger. And Coach Hedge flipped over their heads and landed on his hooves in front of them brandishing his cudgel.

"_What's going on here?"_ He eyed Horse Frank. "_Demon Horse!"_ He raised his cudgel and ran towards Frank with a war cry.

"No Coach!" Hazel shot herself in front of Coach Hedge's trajectory. "It's Frank!"

Hedge stopped so fast that his hooves skidded on the wet wood and he landed with a plop on his hindquarters. "_Frank?"_ the coach spluttered looking up from his furry butt at the Clydesdale.

There was another 'pop' and the Clydesdale grew human legs and arms and soon became Frank standing on the deck, his face beet read and sweaty.

"_Zhang?"_ Hedge pulled himself back up onto his feet and stared at Frank. "We're in the middle of a war! This is not the time to play horsie!"

"I wasn't playing Coach!" Frank said.

"Well what in Zeus's name were you doing then?" Hedge was using his no nonsense voice. "Calling all of us to arms like this given the state of the threat level!"

"He was trying to talk to Blackjack," Leo explained.

Which really didn't explain anything to Nico. He'd seen some pretty weird stuff since finding out he was a Demigod; but a boy turning himself into a horse for better horse-to-Pegasus reception was a first.

"Blackjack landed on deck and started freaking out," Frank said. "Percy can talk to horses; and I'm related to Poseidon too, so I tried to see if I could talk to him. I guess it worked too well."

"Like a hurricane works 'too well'," Leo returned making air quotes. "Thank Gods Blackjack isn't a Giant Squid."

Frank cut Leo a look. So did Piper.

Blackjack snickered like he found the term offensive.

"He says you're a little too short to be telling dumb jokes," Frank relayed with a bit of a superior smirk.

Blackjack started making a series of whinnies and snorts that dropped the smirk off of Frank's face. "Wait, slow down-" he searched his pockets like he was looking for a piece of scrap paper to take notes.

The Pegasus seemed to roll its eyes at Frank's slowness. Nico hadn't seen Blackjack in almost two years. He was a beautiful creature, jet black with a wingspan of 15 feet. He had been rescued by Percy from the _Princess Andromeda_ in the Sea of Monsters four years ago. At least that's what Nico had heard. He hadn't been at Camp Half Blood when it happened.

"Hey boy," Nico stepped closer to the Blackjack. "Remember me?"

Blackjack reared, then huffed and snorted at Nico, forcing him to back up so he wouldn't be trampled by the Pegasus front hooves.

"Blackjack!" Frank held up his hands, trying to calm the horse. "Easy!"

Blackjack dropped back down to the deck with a clatter. He huffed, looking at Nico with the whites of his eyes. Nico couldn't talk to horses the way Percy could. But he and Bianca's mother had an aunt who owned a horse ranch. And he had vague memories of being dressed up in fancy riding gear and sitting on a thoroughbred horse being led by a servant. So he had some experiences with horse's expressions. And when they showed the whites of their eyes, they weren't about to start prancing in happiness.

"He says you're the weird kid who always smell like Death," Frank said. He looked a little stunned that he was able to translate Blackjack's words for this long.

Blackjack gave a series of low snickers.

"And I don't think he liked you calling him '_boy'_," Frank looked at Blackjack like it was some weird kind of proctored test for a foreign language class. "He wants to know where Percy is- and something about doughnuts because he's tired of flying."

Blackjack snickered like a sigh and folded his wings under his body. He shook his dark main and dropped on all four legs with a heavy thud that shook the entire deck.

Blackjack seemed to look at all of them expectantly for an answer about Percy.

"He's gone," Nico said to the horse."We're going to get him back." He couldn't understand Blackjack's answers. But Pegasus could understand human speech. Blackjack whinnied. Nico didn't need Frank to attempt a translation to know what Blackjack was saying.

The head of Festus the dragon began to squeak and click and Leo rushed to the helm of the ship. Festus neck was turned back towards Leo and it looked like to Nico that the two were having a conversation.

Nico had watched this happen for the last two days he'd been well enough to be on deck. Nico could communicate with the dead and reanimate skeletons from the ground. But he still found it bizarre that Leo could carry on an entire conversation with a severed mechanical dragon head.

Leo patted Festus neck. He pulled a few of the gold levers, and hit 'B' several times on the Wii controller. He stared at the instrument panel and seemed satisfied with all the readings that this produced.

A moment later the ship lifted lurched forward like it had jet propulsion engines. The movement sent Blackjack into a frenzy. Nico and Hazel were thrown against the rail hard on their stomachs. And Nico almost threw _up_ his stomach into the water below.

Coach Hedge was sent toppling end over end across the deck like a beach ball and smacked into Blackjack. Blackjack gave a cry at the feeling of the Satyr's curved horns digging into his back.

Piper had slipped on the wet boards and went sliding like a sponge, Jason going with her because he had jumped up to grab her wrist. They landed on the other side of the ship against the rails in a tangle of legs and arms.

And there was an odd addition of a Koloa Bear clawing at the Mast Head that Nico knew was Frank.

After 5 or so minutes, the ship finally evened out. Nico could feel the rush of speed, and see the white ripples of the waves as the Argos sliced through the water. But they weren't at being tossed around like pin balls anymore.

Beside him Hazel pulled herself up and cursed in Creole. "Leo!" She cursed something else that sounded almost like a hex and rubbed at her abdomen with a hiss. "Next give us a warning, so we can _brace_ ourselves!"

"There wasn't any time!" Leo jumped down from the platform where he manned the instrument panel and tiller of the Argos. "Festus said the storm was blowing west. If we wanted to get into the lee of it I had to push us through it right then!"

"Yelling 'down'!" only takes a second dude," Jason pulled himself and Piper to their feet. Flecks of down from Piper's Eagle feather were stuck to his face like a sprinkling of salt. There were marks on his arm from where Piper's nails had dug into his skin.

Nico watched as Leo at least had the decency to look guilty when Piper rose a little wobbly to her feet like newborn foal.

"You okay Piper?"

Piper cut Leo a look Nico had seen Bianca give to him when he used to flick rubber bands at her head. "_Never_ do that again!"

Jason placed a steadying arm on Piper's.

A thump hit the deck as Frank transformed mid fall from a Kola back into a 16-year-old boy. He looked as unsteady on his human feet as Piper.

"From Horse to Marsupial in 10 minutes," Leo said to Frank. "Nice."

Frank ignored the remark. "How fast are we going?"

"Festus says about 300 miles an hour." Leo said this completely calm like it was a natural speed for a Triminean warship to go.

Nico gaped at him. "How is that _possible? _This thing's made of wood and weighs _tons_, there's no way it could move that fast without falling apart!"

"I built jet propulsion engines into the hydraulics, the kind they use on fighter planes. In case we needed to make a quick getaway. The ship is reinforced with a Celestial bronze frame that activates if our speed increases above 100 miles an hour."

Now _everyone_ was looking at Leo like he was insane. Including Coach Hedge as he tried to curl his horn back to its proper angle.

"Leo," Jason stepped over to him, the tip of his sword scrapped the ground. "How come you never used this system before? Like when we were attacked by pirates, or when that Shrimp Monster almost capsized the boat?"

"Because I was afraid it wouldn't work," Leo was a brilliant inventor, but he sounded insecure for a moment. "I built it into the ship myself after the rest of you went to bed. I didn't even tell Annabeth what I was doing." Leo dug around in his tool belt like he was trying to find a distraction in there."The pirates tied us all up like turkeys, so there wasn't any time to reach the controls, and the overgrown cocktail shrimp – I didn't see it coming , everything happened so fast I panicked," Leo looked back up, his face looked so beat down. "I screwed up."

"Leo it's okay," Nico had seen Leo on and off and Camp Half Blood. But he had never really struck up a conversation with him until now. He was usually surrounded by a group of his Hephaestus siblings tinkering on some metal robot or something. Nico thought he was a little manic, but he was amazing with machines. "It _works_, that's the important part. Going this fast, we should make it to Greece in 4 hours."

Leo still looked at him guiltily for a moment, like he was holding a secret back. "Actually we could be there in _two_ hours, one and a half maybe-"

"Dude," Jason gaped at him. "How fast can this ship _go?"_

"I built it to 600 mile a hour settings," Leo told him. "But I've never tried it. I was afraid that even with the Celestial Bronze girders, the ship couldn't withstand the speed. I was kind of saving it as a last Hail Mary end zone kind of situation."

"I think this qualifies," Nico returned. He looked out over the water. It had turned a grayish blue and a fog had settled thickly over the ship. It wasn't the best traveling situation. If Leo propelled the Argos that far the risk of them being dashed to pieces on unseen rocks, and/or the risk of monsters lurking in the fog realizing they weren't just a giant swimming bird and attacking them was high. But after he watched Annabeth and Percy be dragged to what could very well be their deaths, Nico didn't _care._ Those two had saved him from monsters when he was just a little kid, he owned them the same.

"Nico's right," Hazel said. She was still standing by the railing she had been thrown against. She turned to look at Leo, her hair being blown about by the created wind from the speed of the boat. "Annabeth and Percy are our friends; and we need to do _everything_ we can to rescue them and defeat Gaea." she cast Nico a look.

Nico tried to avert his eyes from her piercing gaze. The thing she suggested; her plan to save Annabeth and Percy – Even with all the things he had seen in his Father's world, in Tartarus, Hazel's plan scared him.

"If this boat can really travel that fast man, then you should do it," Jason said to Leo. "One of us can stay on deck to lend you a hand-"

"That'd be _me_ Valdez," Coach Hedge had stopped preening his goat horn. "I'm ready to kick some monster behind!" He palmed his cudgel with hard blows.

"-the rest of us will hunker down in our cabins, and you can –_yell –_" Jason continued like he was unsure what the best way to do things was. "-if you need us." None of them had cell phones and the Mal Nostrum made it hard to communicate with any of the Gods on Olympus.

"It's a great plan Valdez," Hedge insisted sounding like _he_ had thought of the idea.

Leo looked at the Satyr. "Coach-"

"You have two options cupcake!" Hedge stood up to his full four foot height and stared up right in Leo's face. "Take the plan, or _take the plan!"_

Leo looked around at all of them, and at Nico like he wanted him, or maybe Jason to be up there with him. Not an overzealous satyr with an addiction to smashing things. But Nico knew that Leo wouldn't argue with the goat man, there wasn't enough time.

"Hedge and I will man the helm," – Leo had to back away when Coach Hedge jumped up with an exuberant '_Yeah Baby!'_ and almost took his head off with his swinging cudgel. "The rest of you get below deck. There's ropes and chains in the engine rooms. Lash yourselves to something – it's going to be a bit bumpy."


	7. Piper 4

**xxxxxXxxxx**

**PIPER**

Blackjack snickered and rolled his eyes in the open stable. Piper couldn't speak Pegasus, but it sounded like he didn't like being confined. Or he was worried about Percy. Or probably both.

The others had all gone down to their bunks with rope and chains like it was a weird circus act, or an even _weirder_ HBO movie.

Piper had worked with Pegasus at Camp. Aphrodite children were naturally suited for the job because they could soothe the animals with charm speak. Her predecessor Sienna Beauregard had done it before her.

Jason hadn't wanted her down there by herself. He told her the stable had too many things that could fly off and hit her, but she was afraid Blackjack might panic again. And she couldn't exactly drag an 400 pound Pegasus up to her cabin.

"Easy Blackjack," Piper stood in front of the open stable he had chosen and ran her fingers through his sleek mane. She had seen tons of Pegasus, but he was one of the most beautiful. His coat was like a night absent of stars, sleek and black, and his folded wings rose and fell with the breaths he took.

"Easy," she put Charmspeak into her words, slowing her touch like a horse massage. Blackjack's snorts softened and he nuzzled her hand with his nose.

Below her feet the glass hatch bomber door showed the dark waters of the Mediterranean . An occasional long silver Sturgeon or other sea creature that Piper couldn't name would zoom by the boat like a blink.

When the Celestial Bronze girders had been lowered the entire Argos sounded like one giant out of tune tuning fork. It had been right when Piper and Jason were trying to walk Blackjack down four flights of stairs to the stables, which had been hard enough on a stairwell not designed for a Pegasus' girth. But after the groaning started Blackjack went nuts and tried to fly, smashing into the roof with his wings and head.

Piper had to use all her Charmspeak and Jason threw his shirt over Blackjack's head. It was an old trick Piper had seen her grandfather use on the Reservation. It kept horses calm because they couldn't see anything dangerous in front of them.

That had all been about 30 minutes ago. According to Leo's timetable they should reach the Greek coastline in an hour. A phenomenal speed for anyone to reach Greece from so far away. Piper had no idea what the tourists and Greek authorities would see instead of a Trimenian Warship blazing through the water like a jet plane. She tried not to think about it, because she had enough fear and terror in her already.

The ship groaned and made sounds in some places like the joints were going to buckle. But the Argos held. But it wasn't a pleasant ride. Even sitting still Piper felt like she was moving. She had dragged three plastic gallon bottles of water, the kind that went into a water cooler at an office, and had padded the top with two sacks of horse feed. She lashed herself to the top of it by the rope like a seatbelt. It wasn't the most comfortable seat, and she had actually spotted an old lawn chair in the corner. But once they had gotten underway she didn't want to try and walk around to retrieve it.

The stable had a glass bomber door that Leo built for the Pegasus to fly in and out off. But he also built a large barn door sized door on rollers on the very right side of the stable. It took up almost the entire right side of the wooden wall. Leo said he'd built it for '_Emergency mass exodus situations.' _ In case all of them, plus any Pegasi were chased by monsters down to the bottom level of the ship and needed to get off en mass( Leo's explanation had been metwith numerous Noah's Ark jokes.) Up until Rome these doors had been covered by piles of weapons and sacks of Pegasus food (which tasted like ice cream sprinkles and candy sugar.)

But now the door stood wide open, the head and shoulders of the giant statue _Athena Parthos_ half inside the ship; and the rest of her hanging out in the wind wrapped in a dozen feet of yellow caution tape and one orange flag with a skull and cross bone design.

There were also a few extra bright yellow bungee cables Piper and Jason connected to Athena's neck and arms to keep her stabilized during all the bumping around. Athena wore a stern, almost omnipresent expression, like she wasn't happy about being lashed to horse stables.

Piper petted Blackjack's muzzle, and his warm breath blew out his nostrils onto her hand. She had a thick multi colored braided horse blanket on her lap in case she needed to cover Blackjack's eyes again. It was the same one Annabeth and Percy had used the night they spend the night down here. At least that's what Frank had said.

Piper fingered the fabric, and it made her eyes mist over. But not from the dust. Less than a week ago Percy and Annabeth had been down here, breaking curfew to be together. Now they were being led off to be sacrificed by Gaea in Greece. The statue of Athena Annabeth had fought and worked so hard to retrieve was safely on the ship. It seemed to glow with the power of the goddess, Piper could feel it. But, she wished she couldn't, because it had been Annabeth's quest to retrieve her; and now the _Athena Parthos_ was safely onboard the Argos, but Annabeth was not.

Piper hadn't been there when Annabeth had managed to somehow make contact with them. But Hazel had been standing by Nico and told her about it. She said she hadn't been able to really see Annabeth the way he had. Hazel had described it like it had been like a grainy reception on a rabbit eared black and white television. Whatever Annabeth had done to communicate to Nico had only worked fully on him.

But Piper had heard about her friend screaming for Percy; before the image dissipated. It was a sound she couldn't get out of her head. Her friends were dying, and they may not be able to reach them in time.

Piper wanted to pull out her blade, to look and see if she could see them. But she had tried numerous times in the last 4 days to do so. But nothing had happened. Not even taunting horrible images of death she had been shown before. Tartarus was too far away to even show those kinds of images.

Footfalls sounded behind her making her turn around so fast she almost got whiplash. Her dagger was in her hand, and she almost fell off the barrel.

A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders to steady her. Jason's familiar blue eyes stared at her in concern. "You okay?"

"How did you get down here?" Piper squirmed more in her makeshift seatbelt to see him better.

"I was worried about you down here alone," Jason said by way of answer.

Piper wasn't weak. She hated the presumption that just because her mom was Aphrodite she was a dainty bell who's best defense was swooning. But with Jason she didn't read it that way. He had been her partner in so many dangerous situations, they watched each other's backs.

"Are we almost there?" Piper asked, even though she didn't know if Jason knew either. He had been below deck just like her.

"That's why I came down here to find you," Jason undid her knots and helped her down. "Hedge came down beating on our doors with his cudgel. Almost went ballistic when he couldn't find you. He was convinced you'd been kidnapped by evil sea creatures."

"We better get above then before he does something we'll regret." Piper gave Blackjack one last reassuring pat on the nose. The Pegasus gave a series of snorts that Piper wished she knew how to translate. "Don't worry, we'll bring them back." she offered this instead.

Jason took her hand, and together they made their way up the stairs. When they came out onto the deck this time, they both gaped. Not because they were about to be hurled against the rails like demigod Piñatas.

Because of what they saw in front of them.

The Greek coastline was only a mile away. The fog and the storm had cleared, and the water was now a brilliant turquoise. The sun was warm on Piper's skin and gleamed dazzling off of a sprawling mass of white stone buildings, some topped with brick red shingles. A few crosses from churches stood out over some of the buildings.

The ship pulled neared a port where over a dozen white fishing schooners were moored to docks that stuck out like arms from the coastline.

Piper thought Rome was beautiful. But this was another kind of beauty. It wasn't fancy; all the buildings were simple in design. But it was this that gave the place it's splendor. It was like the buildings were _a part_ of the land themselves. Greece had declared bankruptcy a few years ago, but no one had told the landscape that. It still stood proudly like it was worth a million dollars.

Both Leo and Coach Hedge looked water logged from the waves, but neither seemed hurt. Leo was at the tiller and the Wii Controller, steadying the ship and talking to Festus as they dropped their anchor. And Hedge was leaning over the port rail breathing in the air in giant puffs.

It was as close as Leo was wanting to get to the coastline. And Piper knew why. Who knew how many monsters were lurking in that mass of a city waiting for them.

"We made it," Frank stood against the rail like a gaping little kid. Beside him, Hazel was doing the same. Her hair was poofed out like a halo from the humidity.

If this had been any other day Piper would keep gaping at the landscape. She could spend days wandering the little streets that wound in between the buildings even from this distance. But just looking at the architecture, the flawless designs of the entire city, she could only thing of how Annabeth would have loved this place.

But how she was now being dragged through those same streets to be slaughtered. It tainted the beauty of this ancient land.

"Come on guys," Piper unsheathed her dagger. It looked like such a tiny thing admits all the buildings and cliffs. Like she was holding a toothpick to break apart a mountain. "We need to get ashore. We don't have a lot of time-" Her voice seemed to be swallowed up by the vastness of the coastline, and she swore she could already see the monsters in the dark holes of some of the building's windows watching them.


	8. Annabeth 4

**ANNABETH**

Voices drifted in and out like a fog.

Annabeth's head felt detached from her body. A tremendous heat crawled up her legs like she was baking in an oven.

The voices grew louder, but they weren't _human_ voices. They were scratching things, like iron nails on a chalkboard.

"_We must prep them for Mother's awakening." _

Annabeth's eyes opened into slits. She found herself lying on a platform of logs. Her legs and arms were bound spread eagle by Celestial Bronze manacles. The empty eye sockets of a skeleton peered down at her, a sword in its hand. Annabeth didn't open her eyes all the way, she didn't want it to know she was awake. But even holding her gaze that far was sapping her energy. She rolled her eyes over and tried to see around the nightmarish thing, looking for Percy.

She spotted his leg next to her. The skeleton moved and she was able to see him more clearly. The bed of logs was long, and they were both lying on it. Percy was manacled like hers, his shirt was off and there were some kind of dark leaves stuck to his side where he had been injured. One look at it and Annabeth knew it wasn't to saturate the blood flow. Large drops of blood leaked onto the wood. His body was cocooned in a collection of green moss and olive branches. There was a woven laurel in his hair, streaked with blood that had slid down the side of his face that she could see. His eyes were open, but they looked dazed. Unfocussed.

"Percy-" Annabeth whispered. "_Percy-"_

More skeletons blocked her vision. The one with the sword got down so close to her face that she could see the cracks in its eye sockets.

A mouth full of rotted teeth smiled at her and bony fingers grabbed her chin. "_Do not try to fool us girl. I know you can see me now. It is a good thing,"_ the smile grew wider. "_You will know the _honor_ of being sacrificed to our Mother so that she may once again walk the earth."_ The dead eyes flicked down her body. The sword raised in the skeleton's hand.

Percy blinked, seeming to come around. "Annabeth?" he moved weakly. Annabeth's heart almost fell to her feet. A feeling of relief washed over her_._ She saw his eyes widen when he saw the skeleton warrior raise its sword to her. "Leave her alone!"

The skeleton lowered the sword down to her, and began to slice through her clothes, first her shirt, then her jeans. She was left with nothing but her underwear.

"_So beautiful Daughter of Athena, The_ skeleton set a laurel of leaves on her head. It raised a hand over her body, spindly fingers reached down towards the flat of her abdomen. "_So yielding."_

Annabeth struggled in her chains to get out of range of that hand. Her heart banged against her ribs. A warm rush of air blasted by her body .

Percy was now thrashing in his chains. "I swear to Gods, if you touch her I'll kill you!" Blood began to leak heavily from his side through the bed of leaves on it.

"_Shut him up!" _the skeleton yelled in that screeching voice.

A second skeleton grabbed a filthy looking rag that smelled like Kerosene and stuck it in Percy's mouth. It came away from Percy screaming, missing half of the first metacarpal on its hand bone. Percy had bitten it off.

Annabeth wanted to kiss him.

"_Stop this nonsense Legion!" _the first skeleton screamed to the second. "_If the boy loose too much blood before the ritual is complete he will not be an adequate sacrifice!"_

"_What of you Legion?"_ the second skeleton wailed, pointing a bony finger at the first. _"You too, waste our time! Mother will allow you play with the female, but only _after _the sacrifice is complete!"_

Annabeth's stomach rolled at the words, her head throbbed dizzily. She saw Percy's eyes widen in rage.

Her eyes rolled desperately around, trying to find some way to escape. It was only then that she noticed an orange vicious river flowing through a dark rock ground by Percy's head. She thought for one moment that they were down in Tartarus. But the orange liquid glowed with the same intensity she had seen inside Mt. St Helens when she and Percy had tried to overtake the Telekhines. Sulfur clouds shot up like geysers, choking her, making her eyes flood with tears. She realized with horror, that they were inside the cavern of an active volcano.

Which only meant one thing. They were now in Greece. And they were about to be offered up to awaken Gaea.

One of the skeletons began to tuck a bundle of moss under her body. She heard a rip beside her and turned her head and saw a skeleton slicing through Percy's jeans leaving him down to checkered boxers.

The look in Percy's eyes were enraged and humiliated.

Annabeth tried to reach him, but their hands were manacled just enough distance from each other that she couldn't. She turned and glared at the black eyes in front of her. "Let us go!"

"_That is not on the agenda little heroine,"_ the skeleton said mockingly. It held a wooden bowl of something dark red over her. It dipped its finger inside it and swirled the redness around. "_Blood from fallen warriors- ones you will soon join."_ Bony fingers traced a pattern in the blood on her bare stomach.

Annabeth jerked at the touch.

"_Patience." _ _A_ sharpened metacarpal bone curved around the flesh above her navel_ "I know you are eager. But Mother loves her rituals."_

Another skeleton was writing the same thing across Percy's chest. Annabeth could not see what it was, but it looked like Greek.

"_Curious?"_ The skeleton nearest her placed the wooden bowl down beside the massive alter she and Percy were lashed too. "It is not as fancy as you believe it." It bent over her and red the inscription it had drawn on her skin. '_Hail to the Earth Mother,"_ Bony fingers scraped her scalp and brushed back her hair. _ "Simple and poetic don't you think?"_

"Go to Tartarus!" Annabeth spat.

A rag that reeked of kerosene was shoved her mouth.

"_You have fire my Lady," _the skeleton kissed her with a bare boned mandible over the rag, and Annabeth screamed through the gag.

A wall of noise began to surround them. Skeleton warriors began to appear out of the sulfur waved shadows, forming a circle around them.

"_Let us began my brethren,"_ the hissing voice of one of them stated.

The skeletons all linked hands and began to chant.


	9. Hazel 5

**xxxxxXxxxx**

**HAZEL**

"_Hey kid!"_ the Greek policeman blew his whistle and chased after Hazel and Frank as they ran through crowded streets filled with tourists taking pictures of the water and the boats. A few of them turned at all the commotion and began to instead take pictures of the uniformed officer chasing two teenagers through the streets.

Frank still had Fury blood on his clothes. He and Hazel had been set upon one of the monsters in an alleyway. Frank had slashed through it with his cavalry sword. But at the same moment he did so the police officer had come through the alleyway on his beat. Hazel had no real idea what he actually _saw_, but it was probably something like Frank gutting a tourist with a sword in the middle of a busy Greek shopping day, because he started chasing them soon after.

Hazel and Frank ducked behind a vendor selling sweetbreads. The whistle of the policeman sounded off behind them. Frank knocked over the vendor's cart. The man began swearing in Greek and a boy who worked for him rushed to pick up all the fallen bread.

In the commotion Frank transformed himself into a fawn colored Beagle complete with collar and red leash. Hazel snatched a pink ball cap that said '_Greece is the Word'_ from the next vendor stall, tucking it down over her thick hair. She picked up the red leash and walked away from the commotion at a normal pace, Frank trotting behind her.

She heard the whistle at the vendor's stand and ducked into the lobby of a grand looking hotel with the name: _Volcano View Hotel_ carved in black letters on a white stone sign beside a marbled portico.

The interior of the hotel was wall to wall tan marble tiles. A suited concierge behind a long front desk pointed a finger at Hazel and Frank in dog form. His English was heavily accented, but Hazel got the gist of: _'no hunting animals allowed in the building.'_

She of course ignored him, and picked up Frank, making a dash for collection of elevators on the right side of the lobby. The door opened and a woman dressed in a fashionable turquoise bikini with a sheer white sarong and 3 inch spiked sandals stepped out. She eyed Hazel over the brim of her large white sun hat like she was a stain on the ground.

"_Excuse me-"_ Her voice was a thick Georgian (by way of Atlanta) accent. "This hotel doesn't allow _mongrels _in here!" she looked at Frank the dog with an upturned nose like he stunk.

Frank barked and growled.

"Why don't you tell the hotel that?" Hazel returned. She ducked into the elevator just before the doors closed and just in time to see the Southern Belle of a woman's face scrunch into a scowl.

Hazel pressed the topmost button. '_R' _ for Roof, she suspected. The car climbed the floors with an almost silent motor. When the doors opened again Hazel stepped out onto a large white terrace that overlooked the Mediterranean. The terrace was made out of the same white stone as the outside of the building. Clean lined colonnades supported a white roof and past the covered area was an infinity pool that seemed to spill out into sheer rock face and into the sea.

She set Frank down on the white stone and he changed back into himself. The red leash was still attached to him by the shirt collar. He handed it back to her a little awkwardly. A warm salty wind blew up at them both.

"You saved my life back there Frank," Hazel wiped a smear of Fury blood off of Frank's arm. "Thank you."

Frank looked at her funny. Ever since she had admitted about Leo's connection to her Sammy he gave her such looks. Like he didn't know if he felt the same way that he had about her, or that he could trust her.

Hazel hoped Frank could trust her now, because they still had a Greek cop chasing them, and a city crawling with monsters to evade.

Frank eyed the grand balcony. It was very contemporary and clean lined. "Who the Hades builds a hotel on the side of a volcano?"

"Volcanic soil is very fertile, you can grow almost anything there." Hazel responded. She walked over to the edge of the balcony where a white guard rail met her at mid chest level. It was made of white stone, clean lined like the rest of the balcony. Like it didn't want to have anything to do with the ancientness of the land on which it was built. Below her she could see other buildings hugging to the lower cliffs like weeds.

Frank came over to the balcony and looked down at the Aegean Sea below. The water was a beautiful turquoise. His Calvary sword hung loose in his hand.

The wind blew Hazel's hair back lightly from her shoulders. She couldn't help thinking that if this were any other kind of day, she would really be enjoying standing on a Greek Island in a fancy hotel with Frank.

But it wasn't that kind of day, which was made clear by a huge '_bang'_ that shook the balcony sending several of the beach chairs by the pool careening over onto their sides.

Another enormous hit shook the hotel. Hazel was flipped over the side of the balcony.

"Hazel!" Frank shouted above the sounds of the tourists below who were all screaming. He reached for her hand, snagging her by the wrist moments before she was out of his range.

At first Hazel just thought the screaming was from the sight of a 13-year-old girl dangling thousands of feet in the air from a balcony. But then she saw something that made her heart stop.

It was a huge red and brown dragon that clung to the one of the building faces below them. It had a long neck with a head shaped flat like a shovel. A leathery crest rose from its head like Rooster plumage Huge leathery wings were spread out like a glider beside it, tipped with razor sharp looking claws at the joints. The dragon sniffed the air above with a mouthful of tongues it like Hazel had seen dogs do. It turned its head this way and that, looking for the source of what it smelled.

Then one of its yellow eyes spotted Hazel.

It chortled a horrible sound like a demented bird and started to claw its way up the buildings, raining rocks down through roofs and into walls. Mortals below screamed; they must have thought the volcano was erupting.

"Frank hurry!" Hazel shouted.

Frank yanked Hazel back over the balcony just as the dragon gave another long wail and began to climb faster so it wouldn't lose its demigod prey.

Hazel landed on Frank in a tumble of legs, arms, and swords. She quickly jumped to her feet as Frank peered over the side rail, then recoiled back.

"We need to get off this rooftop!" Frank said hurriedly. "Before that thing realizes it can fly-"

The blue of the sky was blotted out by a huge black shadow. The dragon swooped up from the rocks below, it's wingspan as wide as a leer jet's and forced them back before it's enormous clawed forefeet crushed them.

"Frank, I think it's too late-" Hazel gripped her sword just as the dragon bent its long neck and snapped at her with a mouth full of jagged teeth. She rolled away from the attack as the monster shot a jet of red hot flames at her.

Hazel gripped the piece of firewood in her pocket tightly, and cried out a minute later as her hand began to blister from the heat.

"Hey ugly face!" Frank bellowed from behind the dragon's left shoulder. "Leave her alone!" He slashed at the dragon's scales with his sword. The dragon turned in annoyance and tried to snap Frank in half.

Hazel ducked underneath the dragon's belly and stuck her sword up through a patch of leathery flesh unprotected from scales.

The dragon roared and flipped it's head upside down staring at Hazel with yellow narrow eyes. It opened its mouth and pulled in an enormous breath. Hazel felt a wave of heat start to build up as a jet of fire came right at her.

The fire suddenly ended light a lighter without gasoline. The dragon drew back in a roar as Frank suddenly appeared from underneath the dragon's right foreleg.

"Move!" Frank pulled his sword out of the dragon's shoulder and Hazel scrambled out from underneath before she was crushed.

The dragon's head swung back and forth like a Tilt O' Whirl, smashing through the covered roof, sending the columns falling down below to the second level of the balcony and into the pool below. It shook itself out of its wail. It turned and sniffed at the wound oozing dark black blood from its shoulder. It then let loose an angry high pitched roar and swung its head back around to them.

Hazel and Frank backed up to the railing, their swords drawn. The dragon blasted them with a wall of fire. They ducked, the flames missed them by inches. Hazel kept her arms tightly drawn to her jacket the entire time. Her arms were covered in blisters but she didn't release them from her hold.

Frank stared at the water through the gaping hole in the columns. "We can try and jump!" his voice was almost drowned out by another enormous roar from the dragon.

Hazel stared at the water almost a mile below them. "There's no way we'll make it Frank! Why can't you change into something? a bird, another dragon!"

"It might see me as a threat!" Frank shouted back.

"It already sees you as a threat!" Hazel dodged another fireball blast. One that came dangerously close to the pocket of her jacket where the piece of firewood was. "And if you can't do it like Percy, the fall will kill us!"

"I'm descendant of Poseidon too!" Frank ducked around another ball of flames that shot right where they were kneeling. They rolled apart from each other, Frank going left, Hazel going right.

"You're a Son of Mars!" Hazel shouted back.

Another blast of fire made them both duck, hands over their heads.

"It's worth a shot!" Frank yelled.

They were in mortal danger, but a look of pure hurt came across Frank's face. Hazel had so much more faith in Frank back at Camp Jupiter. She had volunteered to be a part of his team when even their own Legion of misfits had abandoned him. But ever since they had joined the others on the Argos II, Hazel found herself losing some faith in Frank's abilities.

"You can do it Frank!" Hazel shouted. If there was ever a '_Faith Rebuilding Exercise ' _ this was it. "I know you can!"

Frank looked at her momentarily stunned. He looked like he wanted to say: '_you really think so?'_ when another flash of heat came at them, turning the white marble a solid, charred black.

Hazel and Frank acted the same moment. They rushed each other like battling armies, grabbed hands and jumped right off the hole in the in the guardrail.

Hazel felt a rush of wind blow past her, her hair was blown up straight back. The water came at them fast. She had no idea how they were falling or how their trajectory managed to avoid all the buildings and rock faces below.

But soon the water was _right there_. Hazel felt Frank grab her against him and she braced herself for the impact.

They hit the water hard. The air sucked its way from Hazel's lungs, her legs and arms were jello. But she didn't feel like she suspected she should feel after a two mile drop directly into the sea. And she was _alive. _

From high above the dragon scanned the sea, it's claws dangled over the edge of the broken balcony, long neck poised, looking for them.

"Frank!" Hazel turned to Frank's head that was bobbing in the water. He was still gripping her hand looked completely flabbergasted that they were alive as well.

A black shape swopped down from the sky. Blackjack gave a whinny and glided to a stop above them on the water.

Frank shoved Hazel on the Pegasus back, then threw himself behind her.

Blackjack gave a high pitched cry of fear and Hazel turned to see the dragon stare at the Pegasus like he was a delicious new entre at a restaurant. The dragon's wings unfolded and it dived at them like a torpedo.

"Fly!" Hazel shouted.

Blackjack didn't need to be told twice. He rose in the air and zipped above the water. The dragon chased him like he was a windup toy set in front of a cat. It shot hot jets of fire at them. Blackjack picked up speed and ducked and somersaulted.

Hazel gripped Blackjack neck's tighter and Frank gripped her tighter.

They flew around the borders of the cliffs. She could see dots of what looked people staring up at them from a winding roadway below. Another wall of fire blasted right by them. Blackjack veered from the cliffside and flew out into the open water of the Aegean Sea.

The dragon stopped suddenly like it had slammed on its breaks. It turned and flew back over the cliffs, farther and farther away until it was just a speck in the blue sky.

Hazel didn't have time to question their luck before she saw the Argos II below on the waves about 400 yards off the coastline. Blackjack veered in that direction and they dropped to the deck so fast Hazel's stomach turned upside down.

To her credit, she didn't throw up. She could handle fast, so long as it wasn't on board a boat.

Nico and the others ran over to them as soon as Blackjack touched down on the deck.

"Are you guys okay?" Jason took note of their burned and soaking wet clothes and the blisters on their arms and face. "What happened?"

Hazel and Frank had volunteered to scout out the Santorini Islands where they landed to try and see if this could be the location of the House of Hades. The others had wanted to come along, but Hazel was afraid that too many demigods would attract too much monster attention.

Hazel jumped off one side of Blackjack and Frank jumped off beside her.

She pawed into her pocket and felt for the package there. The piece of wood still felt intact in her jacket and she sighed in relief.

Leo ran up to them. "Are you guys okay? Why is Frank's shirt wet _and_ smoking?"

Hazel turned to Frank and attacked him in a hug. "You were _amazing!"_ she pulled back and kissed him, a real kiss that left Frank's mouth in a perfect '_O'_ shape when she pulled away. Leo watched them out of the corner of his eye. Not with jealously, but with the same kind of amusement he had given Percy and Annabeth when Frank had caught them together in the stables.

Hazel fought the blush that was rising to her cheeks and released Frank. "This is the place." She turned to the rest of them. "There were more monsters here then I've ever seen in one area- and that dragon-"

Piper's eyes widened. "_Dragon?"_

None of them had fought a real malevolent dragon. Piper, Jason and Leo had gone on a quest with Festus when he was still whole, but he was a machine, and wasn't a threat.

Hazel nodded, which only made her eyes widen more like she couldn't believe what she was agreeing too. "I think it was the Colchain Dragon."

"Wasn't that one of the Dragons that guarded the Golden Fleece?" Jason asked. "I thought Media put it to sleep."

"Apparently it woke up," Frank stated. He was touching the blistered flesh on his arm and wincing.

Hazel grabbed a canteen of nectar from under a pile of rigging (Hedge stored things in the oddest places) and doused at their blisters. Frank _really_ started screaming, or at least cursing a lot more.

Jason scanned the bright blue sky. "Where is it?"

"It was on us after we jumped off the balcony-" Frank answered.

Leo's eyes widened at this remark. "Whoa, back up Frank. You and Hazel _jumped_ 2 miles off a mountain into the sea?!"

Frank's ears turned bright pink. "It was nothing. Percy told me that I might be able to do things like that, since I'm related to Poseidon-"

"That's not _nothing_ dude," Leo sounded super impressed. "That's like full on demigod warrior!"

Frank's ears grew even redder at the compliment.

"The point is," Hazel cut in on the awkward broment. " As soon as Blackjack flew us out to sea the dragon turned around, like it wasn't allowed to leave the land. It seems to me like its guarding something."

"Like Pellus with Thalia's Tree back at Camp Half Blood." Piper said, her words half a statement, half a question.

Hazel had heard Percy talk about the dragon that guarded the borders of the Greek demigod camp. He said it was so tame they fed it dog biscuits. They had both supposedly guarded the Golden Fleece But this dragon wasn't like the Camp Half Blood Guard Dragon at all.

"You think the House of Hades could be on this island?" The question came from Nico who was standing beside Jason.

Hazel nodded. "I could sense something _big_ in the ground. It resonated like something I felt when I was in the Underworld. Isn't there a legend about an entrance to Tartarus being inside a volcano?"

Nico nodded back. "The ancient Greeks believed that all the active volcanoes on the island were entrances to Hades. But some of the oldest volcanoes; they believed had erupted so much that they went straight to Tartarus. built a lot of grand entranceways into the Underworld in Greece. When I was down in Tartarus," Nico forced himself to repress a shudder at all the memories that named produced. "I overhead some of her Legion talk about how they intersected a pit of Tartarus over a House of Hades to awaken her."

"Are you like for _sure_ it's here?" Leo asked Nico. "I don't want to burst your 'Son of Hades' bubble man. But Greece has dozens of volcanoes. "

"It's here," Hazel said as sure as she would say that she was standing beside Frank on the Argos II with blisters welling up on the skin of her arm. "The Colchain Dragon is said to never sleep or lower its vigilance. It's the perfect guard dog for an entrance into Tartarus-" Hazel suddenly stopped talking as a thought occurred to her. She remembered a little island in New Orleans, following her mother night after night into a cave. Gaea's voice demented, eerie, as they slowly raised her from the earth. "It's not here-"

"What?" Nico looked at her in confusion, "Hazel, you just said it-"

"I know what I said!-" Hazel found herself shouting, but she hadn't realized she had done it. The warm Mediterranean air seemed to grow cold, and she found herself shaking, like shock had suddenly set in.

Nico noticed it. "Hazel-" He took her shoulders, his dark eyes staring into hers. "What is it?"

"When I was forced to raise Gaea before, it was on a little island in Louisiana; a place away from the population- so it could happen in secret-" Hazel swallowed the need for vomiting. "Annabeth told me about this one island _Nea Kameni_ that was formed from repeated volcanic eruptions that broke it off from the rest of the Santonri islands. It's west of here, the same direction the dragon flew off in – and it's totally unpopulated."

All eyes were now on her, at the implications of what she had just said.

"The monsters here in the city must be like a first wave," Jason said. "A way to kill us off before we can get to the island."

"Or a decoy," Frank challenged. "To keep us fighting here while Gaea rises."

Hazel found herself shaking even more at the mention of Gaea. She didn't know if it was a delayed shock reaction from the dragon attack, or the parallels of Gaea's planned second rising from her first.

Frank finally noticed. He pushed Nico's hand off her shoulders and drew an arm around her. Nico glared at Frank for a minute, but Hazel saw him back off when Hazel leaned into Frank's side.

"Are you okay?" Frank smelled like dragon fire and blood.

Hazel actually found it comforting, and it allowed her to be completely honest. "Gaea said spilling male and female demigod blood will awaken her completely. If there are this many monsters attacking us; then she must be closer than we think."

The image of Percy and Annabeth about to be slaughtered in a volcano burned itself into Hazel's mind.

"Festus can get us there in 30 minutes," Leo jumped down from the control booth where he had been conversing with the dragon head. He rummaged into his tool belt, and came up a steel sledge hammer and a celestial bronze sword. "We need a plan." Leo looked to Jason.

And so did Hazel. Now that Percy wasn't there, Jason was the most senior demigod of the Seven.

Jason looked like it was a fact that he wished wasn't true. "Gaea already knows we're here – those monsters are proof of that."

"Great pep talk so far," Leo side barred.

Jason raised his head to the sky, which was still a brilliant blue. A complete contradiction to all their tumbling thoughts.

Hazel had only known Jason for a few months; but he was a lot like Percy, brooding, a hero who didn't want his status. So she could almost read his thoughts about wishing to be able to reach his father for some kind of help.

"Our best bet is some kind of diversion." Jason went on.

"You mean like _bait?"_ Piper eyes widened in shock at what Jason was suggesting. "Jason, _no!_ We're not asking anyone-"

"I'll do it," Leo broke in, this time his voice lacked any form of humor.

Hazel's eyes widened in shock this time, but before she could voice anything Piper beat her to it:

"No you won't!" Piper's brown eyes swirled like dust storm

Leo acted like he didn't hear her. "I can rig some sort of traps and explosions to keep Gaea's thugs occupied long enough for the rest of you to get to the House of Hades-"

"We've already lost Percy and Annabeth- we're _not_ losing you too!" Piper screamed. Her eyes swirled with tears.

"Pipes, I can do this-"

Hazel hated the way Leo sounded so resigned to his fate. Like he had been saved by Hera, and survived multiple monster quests to end it all here. Like his whole life had been leading up to this kind of end.

Piper looked like she wanted to choke Leo under so he couldn't get off the ship.

"There's another way."

Nico's voice made them all turn. One of the tears in Piper's eyes broke free and trailed down her face as she turned her head and looked at him.

Hazel's eyes widened this time. Her heart started beating so hard she was afraid Frank could feel it against the side of his ribcage.

"What are you talking about?" Jason was the first to ask the question they all were thinking.

"We can have the diversion we need," Nico responded. "without anyone on this ship risking their lives."

"How?" Frank asked skeptically.

Hazel watched Nico pale at the question. "I-_I _ have to prepare-" He turned and brushed past Frank and Piper disappearing below deck. Both of them watched him go in stunned confusion at his cryptic statement.

But Hazel just watched him go, her heart still hammering in her ears.


	10. Percy 5

**xxxxXxxxx**

**PERCY**

The skeleton warriors bowed like Percy had seen in those creepy occult movies late at night on HBO. Except this time there wasn't a button to fast forward the live action through the creepy parts.

The bones of the skeletons rattled as they bowed low at the waist, chanting something Percy could not understand.

He felt hot air blowing up his exposed chest like it was a Sauna who's heat had been turned up to high. The wound in his side throbbed and burned with each blast of sulfuric heat.

The skeleton nearest him chanted the loudest like an overzealous priest. The others seemed picked up on this and began to raise their voices which sounded like a million broken woodwind instruments trying to play a song.

All of the skeletons had linked bony fingers together, but the one who had started to chant louder broke a hand free.

Percy watched as it raised a bronze blade in its hand. It hovered the blade over Annabeth's body and slashed rapidly at her bare arms and legs opening long vertical cuts down her skin.

Annabeth screamed into the cloth gagging her.

Percy thrashed against his bonds, screaming into the gag in his mouth.

Blood began to pool down Annabeth's skin, dripping like heavy rain onto the stone below. One the skeletons retrieved wooden bowls and began to set them below Percy's eyesight.

The sound of a wet patter made his stomach roll.

Annabeth's bare stomach was heaving on breaths. The skeleton with the knife smiled at her with ugly teeth and ghosted the knife on the skin of her navel and traced upwards, drawing a line of blood. She struggled harder, her gray eyes terrified.

Percy bit hard on the cloth and moved it with his teeth and this made it so that he was finally able to spit the nasty thing out of his mouth. "_Don't. Touch. Her. Again!"_

The skeleton turned dead eyes to him. _"Your loyalty to this one is commendable Perseus." _ It moved away from Annabeth.

Percy felt his head being yanked back by a pair of bony fingers. Those black empty eye sockets peered at him. Another skeleton tucked a wooden bowl under his side that sloshed a viscous red with Annabeth's blood.

"_It is acceptable,"_ Finger bones carved into spiked points tore apart the leaves from his wound and began to rip through the flesh. "_And to be rewarded, little hero."_

The pain was red hot. Percy screamed as he felt his blood began to leak like a wave into the bowl. He screamed again when another skeleton took up the first one's knife and slashed across his abdomen, thrusting another bowl against his skin to collect the blood.

He lost count of how long those creatures dug into his flesh, and how long he screamed. When that unknown time frame passed Percy's head was swimming like a balloon and a torrent of dizziness, pain and nausea gripped him like a vice.

The skeletons moved away from him and Annabeth as a collective, each of them carried a wooden bowl.

Annabeth lay beside him, her legs and arms a mess of blood that glowed in the half light of the lava river that flowed below them.

The skeletons stood over the lava, raising the bowls of blood high into the air.

Percy tried to manipulate the blood like water the way he had done in Tartarus. But his body was weak and he could barely sit up to see what was happening.

The off key chanting began again and Percy watched his and Annabeth's blood being poured into the lava.

He turned back to Annabeth. She wasn't watching the skeletons like he had been. Her eyes were focused on him; tears were leaking down her face.

"Annabeth-" Percy fought hard to free the hand closest to her. He twisted and pulled at his wrist, trying to reach her hand. Trying to touch her. But his hand stopped millimeters apart from hers.

"I love you," Percy called over the gaps of their fingers. The wound in his side throbbed in the immense heat, and from his heavy breaths. "I love you Annabeth-forever."

This time Annabeth didn't tell him to shut up. She nodded, unable to speak through her gag, and he watched tears fall like a rainstorm down her face. Her fingers splayed out, trying to reach his.

The chanting grew louder, the lava began to bubble and rise like spires, breaking apart like mini eruptions.

"_Sacrifices…"_ the voice came deep within the lava, deep under the earth, the scantest of whispers. _"Beautiful ones,"_ the voice grew into a stronger whisper, louder, hissing. Another spire of lava rose from the ground, larger than before. It expanded until it was 7 feet high like a David Blaine magic trick and the face from Percy's dreams rose from it.

"_I can see you now."_

The shape stepped out of the lava and solidified. It was tall, and shrouded in a hooded cloak the color of brown earth. The voice came from deep within the recesses of the blackness of the hood.

The hooded shape began to move and Percy could see that the cloak wasn't the color of earth, it _was_ earth – clumps of dirt fell from it as the figure moved.

"_For two long I have _rotted_ asleep,"_ the figure moved towards the alter where Percy and Annabeth were shackled.

The skeletons dropped into a bow as the shape passed them, some of them prostrated their skulls to the volcanic stone floor. A hand made of twisted rotting cypress wood reached out and touched the skeletons one by one and they fell into fits of swooning like it was a backwoods revival.

"_But the time for sleeping has past,"_ the hooded shape stopped at the base of the logs, where Percy's bare feet were splayed out like a chicken ready to be cooked.

Those branch fingers pulled back the hood.

Gaea's face was horrible. The color of dried mud webbed over with cracks. Her hair was made of falling silt and dry roots that crawled with earthworms and earwigs. She had no nose, only a flat protrusion that flared up and down, reminding Percy of Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies.

Except this wasn't a movie.

"_I owe you a debt little heroes,"_ Gaea's eyes were the color of slate, with punched black holes in the center instead of pupils and she smiled through lips of the same color. _"You have helped bring about the dawn of a new Golden Era. A feat that must be rewarded-" _ Gaea turned her head and a cluster of earthworms plopped on Percy's bare wounded feet.

Gaea snapped her twig like fingers and the rag in Annabeth's mouth dissolved to sand.

Annabeth choked and gagged, spitting out the foul mess.

"_It shall be ladies first,"_ Gaea opened her mouth wide and a spilling of black spiders tumbled out onto Annabeth's bare skin. "_A present from Archane for your help in her weaving, Child of Athena."_

The spiders latched themselves onto Annabeth and began biting her skin with needle like pinchers. She screamed.

"Annabeth!" Percy thrashed in his bonds. "Leave her alone you Dirt Face Piece of Silt!"

"_Patience boy, you will have you reward soon enough."_ Gaea waved her hand over Annabeth and the spiders began climbing up her body towards her opened mouth. Annabeth screamed louder and it reverberated all around the crater.

"_Stop it!"_ Percy cried. Annabeth's screams would haunt his nightmares.

Gaea snapped her fingers again and the spiders disappeared from Annabeth, but her body was now dotted in massive red welts as well as streaks of blood, and she was pale and sweaty and trembling, eyes glassy.

"Annabeth!" Percy pulled at the shackle on his hand, hearing pops in his wrist, trying to reach her. Her breathing was rapid and shallow, and she looked like she was in shock. Percy turned and looked Gaea right in her granite colored eyes.

"I'm going to kill you, you mud caked freak!" He was breathing so hard he felt it shake the logs.

"_So loyal dear one,"_ Gaea's bent down over Percy. _"_ _I knew the moment I learned of you, you would be the one to help me rise. You are _everything_ I needed in a sacrifice, loyal, handsome,"_ branch like fingers reached out and stroked his face. _"powerful. Such power I can use when I reclaim this world-"_

"That's never going to happen!" Percy spat back trying to yank his face away from those spindly fingers.

Gaea laughed the low rumbled earthquake sound, and with her face so near Percy felt his skull shaking.

"_It is already happening foolish child!"_ Gaea let go of Percy's head so fast that it smacked the back of the wood.

Pain exploded behind his eyes.

Gaea leant back up, standing at a height of almost 8 feet. _"If you will not join me Son of Poseidon. Then you have outlived your usefulness."_ The Titan swept her gaze down to the skeletons that were still prostrating themselves at her feet.

"_The Sacrifice is complete; throw these _remains_ into the lava pit!"_

The sound of 12 skeletons climbing to their feet all at once screeched through the air.

Percy yanked again at his bonds and a blinding pain shot through his left hand. His wrist throbbed and was slick with blood. His thumb and the two fingers next to it were bent inwards like a claw. He realized that he had broken his fingers, and possibly his wrist. But the shift in the bones gave him wiggle room in the cuffs. He pulled. The pain was white hot, but he kept pulling.

His hand slid free of the manacle. The pain now shot up his whole arm, and his side screamed in agony, but he ignored both. He reached across and shook Annabeth's shoulder.

"Annabeth!" she didn't move, her eyes still unfocused. She was whispering something, that sounded like '_spiders'_ over and over again.

"Annabeth please!" Percy shook her again. "We're together! Please!"

The shadows of the skeletons stretched out over them as they circled their way around the alter. Percy had only one hand free, one broken hand and no weapons. Annabeth still had yet to move.

One of the skeletons reached up towards them, and Percy threw himself over Annabeth's still form.


	11. Jason 6

**xxxxxXxxxxx**

**JASON **

The _Nea Kamini_ was a small island, only 2000 meters at its longest coast line. It was covered in beaches made of volcanic soil. The only volcano on it hadn't erupted in almost 70 years. But as the Argos has approached the island, thick black smoke rose into the skyline. As they drew closer the air became clouded with ash.

A large reptilian shape circled high above a billow of dark smoke. The Colchian dragon moved its head to and fro in vigilance, looking for any trespassers.

Jason secured the leather straps to his armored breast plate. He felt hands reach out to help him and looked up and saw Piper tightening the strap on his right shoulder. She was also in a bronze breast plate. Both had the insignia of Camp Half Blood; a Centaur drawn in dots like constellations in the night sky high on the right shoulder. But Piper's armor had the edition of a rose with two doves flying beside it, with a bunch of hearts floating above their heads. But Piper also had her dagger in a scabbard strapped to her arm. A quiver of arrows were slung across her back; and she shouldered a 3 foot black war bow. So it canceled out any girliness of her armor design.

She handed Jason his sword and he took it from her. His fingers brushed hers above the leather archer thongs on her hands.

Leo came up to them in a bronze breast plate that matched theirs, his tool belt tightened securely around his waist. Frank and Hazel were dressed in their roman cavalry armor. Each gripped a Spata.

None of them wore helmets, or carrying shields. The war helmets of the Greeks and Romans offered protection but not much visibility for the wearer; plus they were covered in brightly colored plumage on top and would attract too much attention going through a wooded landscape. And the shields were more of a hindrance then an asset when you were trying for a quick attack. Jason had originally be taught to fight with his shield like it was his arm. But, after he'd been in Camp Half Blood, and witnessed the almost lighting flash moves of the Campers fighting with only swords, he became a believer in the 'no shield concept.'

It was the first time Jason had seen all of them together in their armor. There was a distinct mixture of Greek and Roman styles, both in the armor and in the weapons. But standing there together, all he saw was a group of friends untied to fight one cause.

A roar shook the Argos.

"That's close," Coach Hedge watched the dragon sniff around in the air like already detected them. He was dressed in a wooden breast plate that looked like a cut out of a marimba. "Let's go turn it into dragon steaks!" He raised his cudgel in the air.

Jason wanted to shout at Hedge to keep his voice down, but there wasn't time. "If we need to separate, we go in pairs. Me and Piper, Frank and Hazel. Nico and Leo-"

"Where _is_ Nico?" Leo asked. The demigod in question wasn't on deck. "I'm not being paired up with a partner who ditches on a mission."

"I'm here!" Nico came running across the deck with a loud clanking sound. His armor was a death black, carved with skulls, and his Stymithan iron sword hung at a jeweled scabbard at his waist.

Nico's armor radiated with the power of Underworld; and even this far from the gods the others could feel it.

"I take it back." Leo gazed at Nico impressed. "Valdez and Di Angelo has an _awesome_ ring to it!"

"What about me?" Hedge insisted.

"We need someone to guard the ship-"

"_My great aunts furry hindquarters!"_ Hedge swore, cutting Leo off. He jumped up and down in indignation, swinging his cudgel. "I didn't come here to nanny goat a ship!"

"If someone captures the Argos, then we have no way to get Annabeth and Percy out safely and get back to Camp Half Blood before Reyna destroys it," Jason was telling the truth. But he added as much dramatic flair as he could. He knew that Hedge would only go for it if it sounded dangerous. "It's an important task Coach, of course if you're not up to it-"

"Don't be foolish Grace!" Hedge interjected. "This kind of job can only be handled by a Satyr!" He sniffed in pride and looked at them all. "Go and rescue Jackson and Chase, I'll man the helm!"

Leo slapped Hedge on the shoulder. "You're the best coach."

Hedge bleated in agreement. "I know, I know. Enough talk; all of you off my ship!"

Jason turned to Piper. "You ready?"

She nodded and placed her arms around his neck. Jason had seen bits of _"Eclipse"_ at Camp Half Blood's movie night. And it was what Bella Swan had done to that shirtless werewolf guy the entire end of the film, like she was too weak to walk. That wasn't Piper though, and if Jason told her that, she'd probably punch him.

"Don't take down the dragon unless it attacks first," Jason ordered. "This thing is ancient, it will need more than just one demigod to kill it."

"I'm all for not killing it unless it tries to kill me first," Frank agreed.

Jason secured his arms around Piper's waist. He lifted into the air and caught a wind current that propelled him and Piper straight to the island.

The currents here were a lot stronger then he'd experienced before. And they didn't bend to his will like others. It battered him and Piper around like a plane in turbulence. Piper clung so tight to his neck she almost choked him.

They both crashed through a thick growth of trees end over end and came to a hard stop on a log. Piper was on top of his legs, the tip of her bow jammed into his stomach.

_Trees._ A random fact from Annabeth sprung into his mind. About how the Nea Kameini Island had no natural trees, only low lying bushes and rocks. But Jason was staring upside down at a forest of leafy canopy of Black Adder trees and the thick trunks and scrubby branches of olive trees.

"Jason, Gods are you okay?!" Piper asked.

"Yeah," Jason was winded; but he pretended that he was fine. Because certain questions like: '_do I look fat in this dress?'_ and '_did I bludgeon you with the butt of my war bow?'_ were things that a good boyfriend lied about.

Piper surveyed the landscape from above him. She looked as baffled by the presence of the trees on the island as Jason was. Annabeth was a big advocate about telling them all things that excited her.

A Pegasus that looked very much like a chestnut colored Clydesdale horse with wings flew over head and landed a foot away from them.

"Guys, now's not the time!" Leo jumped down from the Pegasus' back. Hazel and Nico dismounted expertly on the other side.

Once all the passengers were off the Pegasus turned back into Frank; who grabbed his lower back with a groan. "You all need to start eating less."

Piper helped Jason to his feet. They stood at the base of an olive tree with a trunk as thick as a two car garage. Shriveled bits of black olives were dotted all around the trunk like ants.

Piper stared up at the giant of a tree. "Didn't Athena invent Olive Trees with a spear?"

"I think so," Jason stared up at the tree like she was. The thing was over 40 feet tall, with a gnarled trunk and a canopy of leaves that almost blocked out the light of the sun. Jason felt like a little kid standing beside it. "Something about her throwing her spear down in Athens, and getting it named after her. Annabeth would know-" He cut himself off at the mention of Annabeth.

He saw something scratched into the tree, like how kids used to scratch their initials into them when they liked someone. It looked like a series of Greek symbols. He frowned at the scrawl that looked like it was hacked into the bark with a rusty steak knife.

Jason could read Greek, but his brain was wired for Ancient Roman. So reading even these three groupings of symbols didn't come easily. But he managed to make it out:

"_Sacrifices."_

On closer inspection the words looked like they had been scratched with claws, or fingernails. The warmth of the sun seemed to vanish, and the air felt like it had dropped ten degrees.

A roar shook the trees. It whipped all of their heads up towards the blue sky. The dragon was no longer circling the volcano. It had changed its path and was now headed in a bee line right for them.

"Nice one Frank, it saw us land!" Leo snapped. "You should've picked something _smaller_ to change into then a Budweiser horse with wings!"

"Leo, shut up and dive!" Frank shouted just as the dragon swooped low and blasted a jet of flames at them.

Jason and Piper ducked behind the trunk of the olive tree, just as the grass the stood on caught fire.

Jason peeked out from behind the tree trunk to see if the others were safe. He spotted Leo and Nico crouched behind a fallen log, Frank and Hazel twenty paces behind them, just outside a ring of crackling flames.

Piper notched an arrow in her bow and reached around him, taking a high aim at the dragon's head. The arrow winged harmlessly off the dragon's scales, and it shook it off like it was a mosquito bite. It's yellow eyes turned to Piper like she was the mosquito.

Piper notched another arrow, this one a dead aim at the dragon's nostrils. It reared back as her arrow made contact up its nose. She shot anther one at the other nostril. The dragon roared like it had the worst kind of sinus infection.

It reared up like a horse, it's hind legs blocked out the sun through the tree line. It snorted, like it was trying to blow enormous arrow sized boogers from its nose.

It blasted Piper in the hand with fire. She screamed and dropped her bow as it burst into flames, and her shirt sleeve caught fire.

Jason grabbed her from behind and rolled her in the dirt until the flames went out. Piper clutched at her arm in pain.

An giant scaled foot slammed right by them, breaking through the thick tree trunk in half like a match stick. The entire massive trunk began to fall crazily towards them.

"Jason! Piper!"

Jason heard Leo's cry, then an ear splitting crack. He balled his body over Piper as much as he could and braced for impact. The ground echoed in a shattering boom; but Jason didn't feel an collision.

He opened his eyes and was dumfounded at the sight of a _second_ dragon, a giant green one heads taller than the Colchian Dragon. It had the branches of the tree in its mouth and threw it like it was playing a colossal game of fetch.

The Colchian dragon backed away, spitting like ginormous angry cat. It reared forward and snapped at the second dragon, shooting fire right at its face.

"_Frank!"_

Hazel ran in front of the green dragon, her sword brandished,. She slashed at the forelegs of the Colchian. It was then Jason realized that the second dragon _was_ Frank.

The Colchian was unfazed by Hazel's sword and blasted Frank with another wall of fire. Frank had yet to retaliate in kind. Jason didn't know if he knew how to spit flames or if he was just too scared too.

Piper was back up on her feet and began shooting arrows from her still smoking bow at the Colchian's back. The arrows kept winging off the scales. They were too tough to be penetrated. Jason could see that the underbelly of the dragon wasn't covered with scales, a weak point.

He grabbed Piper by her uninjured shoulder. "Back in a sec!"He ran past Frank the Dragon; and ducked the massive spiked swinging tail; disappearing beneath its stomping legs. He aimed a stab upwards with his sword at the dragon's underbelly. The sword stuck in like a toothpick, and the dragon reared back, the blade still inside it's flesh. Jason grabbed the hilt and was flung upwards with the dragon's movement. The Colchian jerked and flailed, and the sword came free, but with Jason still holding to it.

He was thrown back to the ground with a thud that sucked the air from his body. His vision grayed for a moment, those massive legs began to tumble down like boulders at him.

"_Jason!"_ Piper shouted from somewhere behind him.

The dragon suddenly veered from its straight down course with a crying screech. Jason's vision began to clear. He saw Nico on the dragon's back, his black sword sunk deep into one of the dragon's yellow eyes.

Hazel grabbed Jason's arm and pulled him out just as a blast of blue fire came from Frank in dragon mode. Frank didn't seem to have the full hang of fire breathing. It looked like he was trying to hack up a giant fur ball. But the real dragon roared horribly from the heat of Frank's blue flames and fell over backwards with Nico on its back. Nico jumped and tumbled to the ground into a roll that looked painful.

Nico laid there for a moment, looking dazed. The dragon snapped at his body, trying to snatch the sword out of his hands.

"_Leave my friends alone you over grown gecko!" _Leo ran full on at the dragon like he was going to football tackle it. He placed both hands on its exposed belly and bright red flames burst out, making the dragon roar in pain.

Nico struggled to his feet. He raised his sword and sliced through the dragon neck, cutting the head halfway off its body. A black colored blood poured out from the gash. It kicked at the ground, pelting them with sand and rocks, as it tried to flip back over.

Jason dodged by the flailing legs again and sliced his sword through the rest of its neck. The dragon's head rolled away in severed heap, the body bucking furiously before it fell still onto the ground.

Jason stood, panting over the dragon's body. The giant green dragon shrank back down and became Frank. His clothes singed and burned, his hair a patch of bald spots from the flames.

"Is everyone okay?" Jason swept his eyes over his friends.

Piper was covered in cuts and scratches, and clutched at her burned arm with a tight grip. Hazel had a bleeding gash on her arm, Nico's hand were a mass of bright red gashes from holding onto the dragon's neck, Frank went without description, and Leo's hands were still smoking. But they were all alive.

"We killed it," Leo sounded amazed. He raised a smoking hand to his head, but then thought better of it. "We are so _bad ass!_" He gave a whoop that almost sounded like Coach Hedge and turned to Frank. "Man that dragon fire was _sweet!_ You can join Team Leo _anytime_!"

"Thanks," A small smile came to Frank's face. "You weren't so bad either."

"And Jason and Nico with the sword play," Leo grinned his full on manic smile that Jason hadn't seen since those carefree nights around the Camp Half Blood bond fire. "_Nice."_

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" Hazel said it like she was about to tell Leo exactly who that someone was.

"You both rocked," Leo turned to her and Piper. "Totally fought like girls."

Piper took a swipe at Leo's shoulders, and winced.

"Not in front of Jason, Pipes," Leo wagged his eyebrows at her.

Piper's lips pulled back into a smile that ended in something that would have been a full laugh had the circumstances allowed it. She hissed in pain.

Jason took a hold of her arm, and this time he winced when he saw the angry red burns that already started to blister and ooze.

"Here guys," Leo was pouring Nectar from his canteen onto his hands. He passed the canteen to Jason.

"Thanks man," Jason took it and ripped off a sleeve on his purple shirt, dousing the fabric with the Godly drink. He wrapped it around Piper's burn.

Piper swore more that would be seemly for a daughter of Aphrodite. "Your turn," She said mid swear, and passed the canteen over him.

Jason had no visible wounds, so he took a few mouthfuls and handed the canteen to Frank and Hazel who doused their wounds with it before Hazel gave it to Nico.

Nico only took a small sip from the canteen, and closed the lid.

"Nico you need more!" Hazel insisted. "You're still hurt from before!"

Nico shook his head. "We need to save it for Percy and Annabeth," He handed the canteen back to Leo.

"Dude, I have two other canteens in my tool belt," Leo informed. "There's plenty for them. Just because you're the Son of Hades doesn't mean you don't need a little Olympus Energy Drink now and then-"

"You've never been to Tartarus!" Nico was almost shouting and Jason watched as Leo backed away in surprise.

Nico seemed to turn into the shadows of the trees. "It's like no place you've ever been before. The monsters, the things I saw - I barely got out alive, and I had the Pomegranate seeds from my stepmother's garden." His pale face drew even paler. "They're going to need as much as we can give them."

A sound broke through the air like a knife had sliced through it. It came from where the black smoke rose high and thick from the volcano.

It was the sound of Percy Jackson screaming.

Jason felt the scream down in his bones. He had never heard Percy sound that way. It sounded like something was ripping him apart.

He picked up his sword. _"Come on!" _

Piper immediately grabbed his hand. Frank transformed into the same Clydesdale Pegasus again, and Leo didn't waste time giving him grief about it, he just jumped on his back with the others. Jason leapt into the air again and caught a wind current, willing it with every control he had to propel them towards the black smoke.

They flew over the decapitated body of the Colchian dragon, over the thick forest of trees. After about 10 minutes the trees ended abruptly and they came to a rocky barren looking landscape like a desert.

300 yards dead in front of them the land dipped into an enormous volcanic crater almost as big as the island itself.

A white marbled building with a domed roof stood like an out of place toy in the center of the crater. The black smoke came from a set of industrial size chimneys stuck into the top of the dome.

A river of hot orange lava raced all around the two story structure. Jason landed inside this ring, Frank touched down beside him and transformed as soon as the others slid off his back, weapons drawn.

The building looked like a cross between the Capital building in Washington D.C. and Benjamin Franklin's home Monticello. It was white with tall colonnades and a portico made from a smaller river of lava where normally there would have been a paved drive.

A set of steps led up to a grand porch. A dozen white wooden rocking chairs sat there in a long line; each with a skeleton sitting there poised with a heavy looking sword in its hand.

Jason crept up the stairs first, Piper followed right behind him, then the others right after her. The skeletons were perched in rocking chairs like they were alive and catching the sulfuric breeze.

Nico and Hazel walked amongst these still skeletons. Jason heard them whispering something, but their voices were so low that he couldn't tell what they were saying.

In the center of the porch stood a massive doorway that stretched to the entire second floor. It was made of gold, and carved with grotesque images. Minotaurs slaughtering heroes; Hydras eating whole villages. Hundreds of people being trampled by a herd of monsters with dog heads and seal bodies.

There were handles in the center of the doors, shaped like a large disk, the size of a serving platter. Each half of the circle was a handle. There was something written on them in Greek that Jason couldn't' read. He pulled at the handles; but the metal was heavy like iron and wouldn't budge.

Frank came up behind him and saw Jason struggling with the doors. He gripped one half of the circle and pulled, but he had as much luck as Jason.

Another scream tore through on the other side of the doors. This time Jason recognized it to be Annabeth's.

Every single hair on Jason's head seem to stand up at the terror of his friends.

Frank threw his shoulder into doors like a line backer. "Hold on guys!" The doors didn't even shake.

"No stop!" Nico bounded over to them and waved his arms like he was trying to hail a cab.

Jason and Frank paid Nico no attention and started to attack the doors with the flat of their swords. The metal didn't even put a scratch in the handles. Jason raised his sword and tried to slice through them. The blade slammed back in a resistance that rattled his teeth.

"_Stop!"_ Nico threw himself directly into the path of their swords.

Both Frank and Jason were forced to lower their weapons before they sliced Nico into Demigod Sashimi.

"What are you doing?!" Frank lowered his sword blade and glared at Nico.

"You can't!-" Nico seemed out of breath.

"Can't _what?"_ Jason panted. "Percy and Annabeth are in there! Can't you hear them!"

One of the rocking chairs nearest to the right side of the massive door creaked. The skeleton that sat in it stood up on bony feet and began to walk very slowly towards them.

"The skeletons," Nico said, his voice almost drowned out as his breathing increased. "They're Gaea's Legion. Their sworn to protect this place-"

Another chair creaked, then another. The skeletons stood up and walked with the first. They raised their weapons with a slice of a sound.

Nico started to back up, his Stygmitian Iron sword raised in his hands. "Only their swords can open the doors."

"Nice timing with that information Nico," Leo pushed himself into Jason's back as more skeleton's started to stand up and circle them.

A hiss of a sword blade flew past Jason's head. He ducked and a rain of his hair fell on him from where his head had been moments ago.

Piper shot her last two arrows at the skeletons, but they just sailed through their rib bones, one of grabbed at the braid in her hair and slammed her into a colonnade. Jason watched in horror as she crumpled.

"_Piper!" _He slashed the skeleton in half and it fell at the feet of another who rushed to take its place.

Frank turned into an elephant and began stomping at the skeletons. His giant feet left round broken holes in the wooden floor.

But the skeletons were expert fighters. Jason watched as they dodged Frank's blows and stuck their swords into his back. Luckily Frank's elephant skin was too tough, and the sword only seemed to graze him.

Hazel was fighting off skeletons on the right side of the porch. One of them grabbed her by the hair and was about to throw her into the lava pit when Leo rushed at him with a sledge hammer, shattering the skeleton's skull to dust. He yanked Hazel back by the hand before she could topple over into the molten lava below.

Nico slashed skeletons to the right. Some of them seemed to cringe slightly at the sight of his sword, like they couldn't remember where their loyalty lie, to Gaea or Hades. But they quickly shook themselves like they were waking from a dream and jumped on Nico. The son of Hades disappeared underneath a mass of bones.

"Nico!" Jason felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as a skeleton blade slashed through his flesh. He dropped, a few feet away from Piper. She was moving against the colonnade; but she looked dazed, and a trickle of blood pooled in between her eyes.

"Piper," Jason crawled to her, and grabbed her hand. He pulled them both up so fast he was dizzy.

The skeletons started to overwhelm them. Hazel was barely managing to deflect their blows with her sword. She dived past more blows and fought her way into the skeletons surrounding Nico. She dove in them like an ocean and came back up, yanking Nico with her.

The skeletons weren't happy, they started attacking like a herd of wild animals. Nico slashed madly. But his Stymatian Iron sword did not kill the skeletons faster. They had no essence to suck into the blade so Nico had to disintegrate them with a direct, full on hit. And the skeletons weren't giving him a chance to do so.

Frank the Elephant roared as one of his tusks was cut clean off. Hazel screamed. Jason prayed that the real Frank hadn't lost an arm.

They were losing, Jason tried to summon down lightning; but the wound in his shoulder left him unable to concentrate.

He had led them here to save Percy and Annabeth, and now they were all going to die. He was no leader.

A silver arrow pierced the skull of the skeleton in front of him. It wailed and disintegrated to dust. It's fellow turned around in confusion, only to be hit with another arrow, right in its sternum. It too dissolved into dust.

The remaining skeletons began to look fearful as a shape leapt up onto the porch. It was a young girl with long braided hair and a golden circlet around her head. She was wearing same clothes Jason's sister Thalia did as a hunter. Her body seemed to glow, not glow like Thalia's protection from Artemis. This girl glowed white, pale like the moon. Like the Laer's Jason had seen at Camp Jupiter.

"_Save thy friends!" _The girl notched another arrow. "_We will be with thee inside!" _

A skeleton warrior threw his sword at the girl, but it sailed through her body like she was made of vapor.

The sword was on a path right towards Jason before it was deflected by a giant anvil held in the hand of a tall bald guy in a Greek Chitin, arms and legs of long ropey muscles. He bashed the skeleton in the head and it evaporated into dust.

Jason watched as Leo's eyes widened like he knew the glowing figure.

"You're Charles Beckandorf!" Leo's eyes went even wider. "But – how? – you're _dead!"_

Beckendorf turned and bashed another skeleton with his hammer, it blew apart like a mini explosion. "And you're not kid! _Go! Save Annabeth and Percy! We'll hold them off!"_

Jason just had enough time to wonder about what Beckendorf meant when more shapes began to shimmer onto the porch like heat wave mirages on the road. A beautiful girl with long flowing hair stood beside Beckendorf. A dagger that looked like Piper's in her hand.

A woman with a dark hair in a red bandanna, a built body inside a blue mechanic's uniform, and a face that looked like Leo's came into form behind the other two.

Leo sucked in his breath and almost dropped his sword. "_Mom?"_

"_You must hurry!"_ Leo's mom reached down and plucked a sword from a pile of skeleton ash. And it didn't pass through her hand, it held firm. She held it out to Leo. _"Take it, it will open the door!"_

Leo looked like he wanted to throw up and cry all at the same time. "Mom, the fire- I didn't mean too- I-"

The ghost of Leo's mother reached out and touched his face. "I know Mio. I never believed you did for a second," The ghost stroked his cheek. "Go baby, we will be with you inside!"

Leo looked like he was in shock. He stood there, and just stared at the ghost of his mother. Finally he took the sword and Jason saw him almost drop it by how heavy it was.

The lava that wrung the portico of the House of Hades rose higher and higher until it formed a peak five feet high. And like a cluster of ants, skeleton warriors began to pour out and run at them, blades drawn.

The beautiful girl threw her dagger and took out one of the skeletons heads with a deadly accurate shot that severed its visible cervical vertebra; it's head rolled like a sack of potatoes to the ground. The Hunter's ghost shot a hail of arrows into the sea of skeletons. All of them found targets. But as fast as they disintegrated, more came to take their place.

"_GO!"_ Beckandorf's ghost shouted at them.

Jason and Leo, and the others shook themselves out of the daze of being surrounded by ghosts. Leo ran to the door and sliced off the handles with the sword like they were made of butter.

Jason and Leo pulled at the doors. They still seemed to weigh a ton, but they managed to crack then open with barely enough room for them to enter single file.

Jason squeezed himself inside, Piper right behind him. Hazel, Frank and Nico ran inside. Leo was last, the skeleton's sword hilt was caught up in the door. Hazel grabbed his arm and yanked hard and Leo tumbled through.

They all looked battered, cuts and bruises, but no serious injuries. Frank, thank the Gods didn't seem to be missing any appendages from having a tusk sawed off in his elephant form.

They stood in an airy concourse the size of a football field with white marbled floors. A staircase curved around a fountain spitting something too red to be water. The spray rose up a second level with floors also made of marble. The walls were white stone and carved from floor to ceiling in a relief carving depicting monsters overrunning Olympus; and hacking the Gods to bits.

But all of this ended a third of the way down. The reliefs, the marble, the tiles, all turned to solid volcanic stone, like a house and a volcano had been fused together. Lava bubbled red hot at the far end where the stone began, and a hot blast of wafting sulfur poured over them.

Skeletons moved at the other end of the long room, none of them gave notice that they had seen Jason or the other demigods.

But Jason's relief at the chance for a surprise attack fell away when he spotted a wooden alter in the center of the natural stone floor. Even from this distance he could make out Percy and Annabeth. They were shackled, naked and bleeding on it. A figure with a dark brown cloak stood over them, and an eerie voice shook the cave.

"_Throw these remains on the fire, they are desiccating my alter!"_

Hazel threw a hand over her mouth at the sight of Gaea in her true form. She quickly composed herself and looked to Jason and mouthed: '_we have to help them!'_

Jason nodded in agreement. But the entire floor in front of them was made of marble and they were carrying clanking weapons. He did not want make any noise that would cause Gaea or those skeletons to do something more to Percy and Annabeth. He couldn't even tell if they were breathing.

A rush of cold air, as cold as a winter storm, blew past him. The ghost of a tall, lanky, guy maybe 19, with blonde hair in an orange Camp Half Blood shirt now stood beside him. "_Follow my lead!"_ He gripped a glowing sword made half of celestial bronze half steel. The ghost vanished into vapor and reappeared at the altar right behind the skeletons and Gaea's cloaked figure.

Jason thought he heard a : "_Remember me?" _ before the screaming started.


	12. Leo 6

**xxxxXxxxx**

**LEO**

Leo's head still swam from seeing the ghost of his mother. Her hand was as cold as morning dew, but he _felt_ her touch. He wanted to throw his arms around her, but there wasn't time before she thrust the skeleton's word at him and he was through the creepy door.

The sight of Percy and Annabeth on that alter, without clothes, covered in blood made Leo want to barf. Then it made him want to parboil those skeletons down to nothing in his father's forges for doing that to his friends.

He wanted to charge and save them both. But the tile underneath was solid marble, and Leo was wearing heavy work boots and carrying a giant sword. There was no way he could be stealthy.

Then the ghost guy had poofed right next to Jason with a mischievous smile that Leo wore himself when he was planning something dangerous, but awesome. Ghost guy then poofed behind what Leo knew to be Gaea (dirt cape, earthworms, who else would it be?)

"_Remember me?"_

Leo wondered what in Hades that meant, how the ghost of a teenager knew the evil queen. But then the screaming started. At first it sounded like Annabeth. But then he realized it came from Gaea. As the scream grew, it changed from a teenage girl sound, to a loud unearthly wail that shook the stone and knocked over the baroque style buffet table against the wall at the base of the staircase.

That was all the distraction Leo needed, He rushed down the marbled floor with Jason and slashed through the skeletons that had finally noticed them and charged. The sword Leo had evaporated the skeletons to dust with one perfectly balanced slash. He would've taken time to bask in the awesomeness of this weapon if he wasn't busy being terrified.

The cloaked figure was butt ugly, with a face to match. Dirty and cracked like garden sculptures that had been left out too long in the sun. Her smile wasn't any better. Even all her appearances in mirrors and earth hadn't done justice to her grotesqueness.

"_I'm afraid you're too late little Leo Valdez!"_ Gaea spoke to Leo like they were cabin mates. _ "I am already awake!"_

Leo watched as the ghost boy sliced through the manacles on Annabeth's hands with his sword. He talked to her in a soft voice as he did this, stroking her hair. Leo heard Annabeth croak. "_Luke?"_ in bewilderment.

"_Silenna hurry!"_ the ghost boy shouted.

The beautiful ghost girl from outside materialized beside Percy's head.

She dug her dagger tip into the locks and they sprang free. Percy's body was thrown over Annabeth, and the ghost girl 'Sienna' gently rolled him off of her. Percy wasn't moving; but even in unconsciousness, his grip was tight on Annabeth's arm.

"_Percy," _The ghost carefully pried his fingers off of Annabeth. Her eyes were sad; tears ran down her translucent face.

Leo turned to Gaea, he raised the skeleton's sword high. "I don't care about how late you slept in Dirt Face!" He stared right into Gaea's cracked disgusting looking smile.

Behind him he saw Jason move in between Annabeth and the ghost of Luke. He removed his shirt and covered it over Annabeth's exposed chest, lifting her off the alter. Frank and Hazel came around to Percy and put his arms over their shoulders and took on his weight. Percy's body hung limply between them, in nothing but bloody boxer shorts.

"You're not doing _anything _else to my friends!" Flames shot out of Leo's hands, 3 feet high and dangerous like the kind that burned down the factory with his mother inside.

"_Mio, control your power!"_ His mom's ghost appeared beside him. Her hand was on his shoulder her eyes proud, strong, and so like his. "_You must get your friends out safely first; do not waste your time on this trash!"_

Gaea looked affronted at the ghost of his mom. "_Foolish mortal, you _dare_ talk to me that way!"_

"_You are trying to hurt my son you Diablo!" _His mother's ghost spatat Gaea like she was just a school yard bully picking on her._ "I am not the one who is foolish!"_

The flames extinguished from Leo's palms at the sound of his mother's defensive voice telling off the mother of the Titans.

It was no contest. He had the scarier mom.

Leo drew his sword high and stared down the clump of dirt who thought she could rule the world and hurt his friends without repercussions. "Bring it on Muddy May!"

Not exactly a battle cry. But Gaea rose to the challenge; and it went to Hades.

Gaea's body rose like bread dough, until she was as tall as the entire second story of the house part of the cave. "_Very well Leo Valdez; if that is what you wish!"_

A jet of red hot lava exploded from the ground behind Gaea and burned Leo like acid rain. He cried out, the sword shook in his hand, but he didn't drop it. His mother's ghost tried her best to fend off the heat from him, but the lava went through her.

Leo didn't know how his mom or the other ghosts could decide what went through them and what didn't. But he could sense his mom's frustration as Leo cried out from the pelting lava that scorched his arms.

"I'm okay mom!" Leo called to her pale form beside him. He raised his sword higher. "You know what I wish Gaea? That you'd _shut. . fugly. face! _" He brought the blade down on Gaea's head.

The Titan Queen evaporated like a dust storm, shattering both the marble ceiling and the volcano crater. Pieces of stone and rock smashed huge holes through the top landing of the staircase, toppling whole chunks of it.

Behind Leo; Jason, Hazel and Piper had taken cover behind the lower staircase landing; trying to shield Percy and Annabeth's battered bodies from the worst of it.

"_This is _my _world!"_ Gaea's voice thundered like an earthquake. "_My domain!"_ Rocks the size of cars dropped from the sides of the crater, smashing through the alter, crushing some of the skeletons into dust. Other skeletons watched, shocked like : _How could mom do that?_

"_No on thy life!"_

Percy finally roused; He struggled weakly out from under Frank's shoulders. His eyes were glassy, but they widened in shock at the sight of the hunter ghost. "Zoe?"

The ghost of the hunter smiled at him and notched an arrow into her massive bow. "_We have thy back Percy; Do not fear!"_ Her arrow sailed high and sailed right up Gaea's 30 feet, and nailed her right in the middle of her forehead.

The Titan Queen looked cross eyed at the arrow growing out of her head like a tree branch. She plucked it out with rage. She blasted a wave of rocks at the hunter. But the ghost merely vanished like a soap bubble and reemerged behind her. "_Thou has missed me Dirt Face! Thou is a poor excuse for a queen!"_

Gaea roared louder. _"No one says' thou' anymore Artemis Brat!"_

"_No one tries to take over the world anymore either!" _The ghost of Luke called over from where he shimmered into existence beside Jason_. "That is _so_ First Titan War!"_

Gaea turned her attention to Luke. She eyed him like he was an enemy worthy of her. "_My son chose foolishly Hermes trash!"_ Or maybe not._ "You were a poor vessel to contain him!"_

Luke's ghost stood protectively over Annabeth and Percy, his glowing sword held tight in his hand. _ "What can I say Gaea,"_ Luke swung his glowing sword with an expert precision Leo had never seen; not even with Jason or Percy.

Beckendorf's ghost shimmered into being beside Luke's. Silenna, the beautiful girl ghost came beside Beckendorf, she gripped his hand and the other gripped her dagger. Beside her emerged another ghost, dark hair, Camp Half Blood T-Shirt, with a quiver of arrows on his back, one notched into his bow, aimed right at Gaea.

Luke's ghost stared at his companions and Leo saw a smile tug at his lips."_I guess I was always a better Camper then a Titan." _

Luke raised his sword, and the ghosts of the fallen Camp Half Blood members rushed at the Titan Queen, slashing and letting loose with all the weapons they had.

Gaea roared and shook the volcano.

An RPG suddenly sailed over their heads and blew a hole into the floor.

"_Get them out!"_ An Asian woman, another ghost, dressed in desert fatigues, knelt on the ground with the RPG launcher still smoking over her shoulder.

Frank's eyes widened and this time he was the one who uttered: _"Mom?"_

A rumble shook the crater, the lava river suddenly began to bubble furiously around the ghost of Mrs. Zhang. The lava simply moved through her like she were made of air.

Two more figures emerged beside her, a woman with Hazel's honey colored hair and dark eyes, and a second woman, hair jet black, woven into a netted bun in a dress of blue polka dots.

"Nico!" the woman in the dress shouted.

"_Hazel!"_ the woman Leo knew was Hazel's mom shouted like a rhyme over the other ghosts. "_The Doors!_ _Get to the doors! We will hold them from this side!"_

Suddenly a sinking feeling hit Leo like a ship torpedoed into the water. There had been no time before, no time to question why Nico had taken so long below deck before they went ashore. No time to question why all the ghosts that had come to the island.

"Mother!" Hazel screamed for her mom at the same time Leo screamed for his.

Leo's mother's dark eyes emerged from behind a wall of lava. "_Listen to Mrs. Lévesque! Gaea cannot reform completely if she does not leave here!"_

"No!" Leo shouted above all the noise shattering above. "Mom _no! I can't-"_

"_Our lives are done!"_ Rosa Valdez's ghost shouted to her son. _"But yours aren't! You must keep going!"_

There was no time to do anything but run. Skeleton warriors began to fall from the second level of the house and crack through the tiles with their feet. More leapt down from the crumbling staircase.

Leo slashed through them, ducking and slicing off arms, legs, pelvis's and feet, until he was back at the ghostly form of his mother.

He threw himself on her. He half went through her figure, and a rush of cold vapor attacked him. But in that instant he also smelled machine oil, the smell of her soap, and the bread she baked on her day off.

"_The volcano's erupting!"_ Luke's ghost shouted. He and the other ghosts of Camp Half Blood were pushing Gaea towards the lava pit. The lava began leaping higher and higher around the Titan Queen like it wanted to end her as much as they all did.

The Earth Queen's screaming roars blasted hot lava at Leo's face, scorching him. "_The sacrifice is too great Leo Valdez!"_ Gaea's voice spoke to him directly. Swords clashed and rocks fell around him. _"These ghosts will remained trapped in here with me if you leave! An eternity in Tartarus for me to take out my revenge!" _ She was sunk back in the lava up to her knees. She shot back up with a blast of lava so hot that even the ghosts backed up from it.

"_Don't listen to her!"_ His mother's voice shouted above Gaea's rumbling one. She looked down at him. "_We all knew of the sacrifice; we came to end this with you and your friends!"_ The other ghosts, especially the ghosts of their moms looked on, watching them, eyes fierce, loyal.

"_I am so _proud _of you." _ His mom touched his cheek with cold fingers.

Tears scorched their way down Leo's face, burning in the wake of the lava. He tapped a message into the air in Morse code.

'_I love you.'_

She smiled, warm, proud, everything that Leo missed. "_I will always love you my mio."_

Leo smiled back, then turned and threw his Calvary sword right at Gaea's face.

The flat of the blade it her right in the center of her face and smacked a bunch of dirt and bugs lose from her mouth and eyes. The Titan stared at him like he had lost his mind.

Which he had; but that was besides the point.

"It's going to be a long eternity for you Dirt Face!" Leo proclaimed.

"_Hurry!"_ the ghost of Beckendorf shouted from the lava pit. The ghosts were doing their best, but even with all their combined strengths, Gaea was managing to rise higher and higher.

Zoe climbed up on top of Gaea's neck and started beating it down like a Whack-a-Mole with her bow.

Silenna's ghost gripped Gaea's hooded cloak like she was disgusted by her sense of fashion. She stabbed her dagger right in one of Gaea's eyes."_This is for Luke, and for that Drakon!"_

"_Filthy demigods!"_ Gaea screamed._ "Release me!" _She started to sink again, her cloak turning to ash inside the lava.

"_Sorry, not negotiable,"_ Beckendorf's ghost gripped tightly to those flailing robes. _"What's your second option?"_

Gaea roared like a den of angry lions. She was now up to her waist in the lava. A pool of black ash circled her where her robe had once been. "_I _will _have my vengeance! Mark my word vile children of the Gods!"_

Leo dodged his way _back_ through all the skeletons, slashing and fighting, watching the ragtag band of ghosts hold of the Titan Queen. He caught up with Jason who was running with Annabeth's limp body in his arms. Frank and Hazel hoofed just as fast with Percy. His feet dragged and slid limply on the ground.

"I got him, you take point!" Leo took Hazel's place, shouldering Percy's dead weight, and handed her the sword.

Hazel grabbed the hilt of the sword, whipped around and slashed through a dozen skeletons on their tails with one move that blew them all to dust.

Leo was super impressed. He'd kiss her if he hadn't become kind of friends with Frank. And if they weren't still running for their lives from an erupting volcano and an evil band of skeletons.

The doorway was still opened only a sliver. Jason went sideways with Annabeth, trying not to injure her further.

"_Need a hand?"_ The ghost of Luke shouldered the door open and bright sunlight poured through.

Annabeth came around in Jason's arms. Her gray eyes looked up at the ghost. "_Luke," _ she reached out to touch his face.

The ghost reached out and set a hand on the top of her head. _"Hey Annie._"

"You were-" Annabeth's voice was stalling out like an out of tune radio. "_Isle of Blest-"_

"_And miss all the action?"_ Luke's ghost smiled sadly. "_Not a chance."_

Annabeth's eyes glazed over with tears, before they glazed over completely and she dropped back limply against Jason.

"-_beth?"_ Percy was barely conscious, but that was the first name on his lips.

Luke turned to Percy. "_They've got her Percy."_ A look passed between the ghost and the live demigod. "_You did good."_

That statement seemed to deflate Percy and he too fell still; his weight almost toppled Leo and Frank.

Leo got a good look at the ghost. Slender, tall, elfish features like he'd seen on Connor and Travis Stoll. The realization of just _who_ this was came over Leo as an angry battle cry erupted from the lava pit. Skeleton warriors in full Greek battle gear began running towards them, swords brandished.

"_Hurry!" _ The ghost of Luke Castilian waved them out into the daylight.

Leo and Frank pushed Percy's limp form through the door. Hazel and Piper tumbled out afterwards. Then Jason and Nico.

Jason, Hazel and Frank set Annabeth and Percy down on the ground. They looked so still, that Leo was scared for one moment that they weren't breathing.

The porch was absent of skeletons, but a mass of swords poked their way through the hole, slashing wildly, trying to find demigod flesh to kill. A sword flew out and missed Leo's head by centimeters, giving him a buzz cut.

Hazel slashed through the elbow of one of the skeletons and it's severed arm fell to the porch, still gripping its sword.

Leo could still see Luke's face, Beckendorf's ghost joined him, and the ghost of Frank's mom. Over Mrs. Zhang's shoulder, Zoe and Silenna were holding down Gaea, now up to her neck in the lava. Her scream was horrendous.

Leo wanted to tell them 'thank you'.

"_Close them!"_ Luke's ghostly face became more transparent as the sunlight hit it.

Leo threw himself at the door; his 'thank you' remained unborn on his lips.

Hazel jumped in beside him, bracing the massive doors with her back. Frank did the same on the other side. Piper reached over them, stepping on top of Leo's shoulders like it was a cheerleader's pyramid and pushed hard. Nico pushed from the left, Jason from the right.

Weapons and swords flew at them through the gap in the door. Even when the gap grew smaller, swords still managed to scrape by the door post, raining sparks down on Leo's already burned arms and face.

Even with all of their combined weight, the door was barely closing.

The lines of that stupid prophecy kept ringing through Leo's head, about the Seven Half Bloods answering the call to end Gaea's rising. But Percy and Annabeth- they were in no condition to hold the doors closed.

And it was like the doors knew it. Like they weren't going to close without four extra hands.

"Keep pushing!" Leo's grunted through a strained voice.

A bloodied arm came behind Jason's, with a hand of clearly broken fingers.

Leo looked in shock at Percy on his feet beside Jason, holding the doors. Beside him was Annabeth's smaller arms, cut clean up from her shoulders to her wrists, leaking blood. They both looked half dead. But they braced the doors with the rest of them.

Leo felt a resistance on the other side, the ghosts pushing from inside the House of Hades.

'_An Oath to Keep with a Final Breath.'_

Annabeth gave half distressed wheezing noises, which started to dissolve into whimpers. Percy was sweating buckets and he was shaking so hard Leo felt in through the door. But neither one of them let go.

Leo felt like the joints in his shoulders turn to liquid pain. But he didn't stop. He pushed until he had no breath in his body. He had no idea how long they had to keep going, or if he would even know when the doors closed. But the sight of Annabeth and Percy, battered and beaten and bloody, not giving in, gave him strength to continue.

Sweat from Piper's body dripped from her hair hand and fell on him like rain. Leo would've said something like '_gross!'_ if his mind wasn't focused on the singular task of pushing the doors shut.

The last remaining slivered gap in the door disappeared and the heavy metal closed. and A jolt raced up the doors like an electrical current, throwing them off.

Leo tumbled backwards into Piper and Frank like an out of control bowling ball. Jason caught them both and righted them before they fell off the porch.

Annabeth dropped her hands and stumbled backwards; her eyes dazed. She fell to her knees on the porch.

Percy stumbled forward to catch her, but he was so weak that he couldn't reach her before he too started to fall.

"Percy!" Hazel tried to grab them both, but they were too far away to reach at once.

"Annabeth! Percy!" Leo made a grab for Annabeth, and the same time Jason grabbed Percy.

They both were thrown down with them from the force of their dead weight.

"Annabeth?!" Leo's arm was smeared with blood from long gashes in her arms and legs. She was covered in cuts and bug bits, no clothes except for blood stained underwear, and she was so pale. Leo wanted to throw up.

Her eyes opened, such a faded gray that they looked almost white. They darted around weakly "Percy-_Percy-"_

"_Annabeth-"_ Percy's weak voice called out to her where he was on the ground beside Piper's knees.

Percy didn't open his eyes, but he reached out the hand that was covered in blood bent at a 45 degree angle, drawing it out along the porch trying to find her.

"She's right here Percy," Leo took Percy's hand and brought it out as far as it could as Jason did the same for Annabeth. "She's right here man."

Percy's fingers brushed Annabeth's and they curled around her hand. "Annabeth."

Two tear tracks broke through the blood and grime on Annabeth's face and she gripped to Percy's hand.

The porch began to shake and rattle like a bomb had gone off. Pieces slats from off the roofed Portico began to fall around them.

Jason deflected a piece of wood with his sword before it could fall on Percy. "The volcano's had it! It's going to erupt! We have to get them on the ship!"

"It's back on the beach!" Piper yelled in frustration, like she wanted to kill someone for their lapse in judgment. Namely, all of them.

"We have to carry them!" Jason shouted above the ever increasing roar of the volcano. He turned to Leo. "Grab Annabeth, I'll get Percy!"

Leo scooped up Annabeth with Frank's help. She had such a death grip on Percy, Leo had to pry her fingers apart from his. "He's right behind you," Leo assured, trying to keep his voice even as he stared at the broken state of her body. There wasn't even time to give them any ambrosia. The lava river that encircled the House of Hades began to erode away the rock, widening it, until it became like a river when it overflowed. Lava started to lap at the edges of the porch, catching the wood on fire.

Jason hefted Percy over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, having to dodge a piece of the roof as big as a door that fell from the ceiling.

"Jason!" Leo shouted through all the dust and rising lava.

"I'm good!" Jason shouted back. "Move!"

"Where?!" Leo could see the lava rising all around them, slats of the porch began to catch fire. They were trapped on the porch like a sinking island. Leo held onto Annabeth's dead weight and tried not to scream in frustration. They had risked _everything_, and now they were going to be burned alive on this island.

Frank was trying to form into something, but he blurred into a dozen different things, like he had a short: Dragon, horse, cat, warthog.

A giant shadow and a familiar roar came from the sky. The shape of the Argos II hovered 10 feet in the air front of them. Coach Hedge was at the helm in his wooden battle gear.

A rope ladder fell over the side of the ship.

"_Get on! What are you waiting for?"_ Hedge screamed down to them.

Seeing the ship seemed to give Frank the strength he needed. He transformed into a giant golden eagle the size of the ones at Camp Jupiter.

Leo turned to place Annabeth on Frank's back; but a shadow jumped down from the deck. Blackjack glided down from the ship and landed heavily on the porch.

He whinnied high and sniffed at Percy's hair, snorted, and dropped down on his forelegs. He gestured with his head to his back.

Leo set Annabeth over Blackjack's bare back. Jason placed Percy behind her. Their hands dangled in the air. At the last moment, Leo grabbed Annabeth's hand and closed it in Percy's.

Blackjack snorted again like he was satisfied, and took to the air, disappearing behind the deck of the Argos.

"Leo, hurry!" Hazel called from where she was already on Frank's eagle sized back. She was helping Nico on. Leo ran over a lava burst that sprayed up from the porch and jumped onto Frank's back, gripping tightly to Franks feathers.

Frank called something that sounded like _'what in Hades?'_ in eagle talk.

"Sorry man!" Leo shouted above the erupting volcano.

Frank swiveled his head around and glared at him through bright yellow eyes, and then Leo felt himself being hefted into the air under giant beating wings. They rose high into the sky, arching towards the deck of the Argos. Leo could see Jason alongside them, Piper holding tightly to his blood stained shirt.

Below them, lava broke through the porch and tore it apart, catching the entire thing on fire. The House of Hades began to swirl around like a reverse tornado. The porch began to break apart. The columns dropped like felled trees, and the entire house was sucked down into a vortex of flames.

They landed heavily on the deck of the warship.

Coach Hedge bounded over to them, his hooves beating out a percussion rhythm on the wood. "Get this tin can in the air!" The satyr waved his cudgel at them.

Leo leapt off Frank's back just as he transformed back into Frank, so the last few seconds of it were just awkward.

He moved carefully around Annabeth and Percy who were being tended to by Piper and Hazel on the deck with canteens of Nectar. He jumped on the command center, punched the Wii Controllers, pulled the gold throttle to activate the jet engines and the Argos surged forward so fast that Leo almost toppled overboard.

Festus swiveled his massive golden head around and emitted a series of squeaks and clicks, red eyes flashing almost like an excited puppy to see Leo's face.

"Yeah!" Coach Hedge stared down at the House of Hades that was half gone into the rock like quicksand. The lava now reached up to the roof, flames shooting out through the chimney. "Take that Dirt Face! Coach Hedge and his crew _owned_ your Dirt Face!" He waved his cudgel around like a victory flag.

The once quiet volcano on the island was no longer dormant. Whatever number was used to measure the force of a volcano, Leo was sure this eruption passed it by a million and one. Smoke blew thick and noxious with the smell of sulfur. Lava shot high into the air, almost at the level of their ship. A few errant splashes landed on the railings, singing it with burns, some parts of the wood burst into small flames.

Nico and Jason rushed to the railing and beat out the little flames before they could catch anymore onto the wood.

Leo veered them to a hard right to avoid anymore of the spewing molten lava The ship rose higher and higher away from the island, until it started to vanish in the black cloud of smoke. He steered them west. Once they reached 10 miles out, he decreased the speed to a calmer 100 miles an hour and set Festus on Auto Pilot.

After the Greek coastline vanished on the horizon, he allowed himself to turned from the controls.

Hazel and Piper still knelt by Percy and Annabeth who were lying underneath the masthead. The girls were alternating between cleaning their wounds with the Nectar and giving them mouthfuls to drink along with squares of ambrosia. There was so much blood on their bodies that the Nectar seemed to do nothing to clean it off.

"Are-" Leo found his mouth dry as dust. They were so still and pale. He swallowed to clear away the cotton ball feeling. "Are they-"

"They're alive," Hazel's eyes met his and Leo almost fell over in relief.

"Awesome!" Leo smiled so widely he could feel his facial muscles scream in protest. "Next stop, home – gotta stop Jason's ex from flattening it!" He caught a quick mock scowl from Jason before he turned around.

The sun was warm, the sky blue, but the smell of ash hung in the air. Leo stared out over in the direction of the Santornini Islands. Festus made a series of clicks and groans, telling him that there was no sign of danger, so far.

Leo's smile lowered like a deflated sail. Hot tears rushed down his face as he stared out over the blue water in the direction of Greece. "I'll always love you too mom."

The wind of the Mediterranean Sea blew warm and salty as Leo dropped to his knees by the controls and cried.


	13. Annabeth 7

**xxxxxXxxxxx**

**ANNABETH**

Annabeth remembered things in pieces.

Being on the deck of the Argos was a blur, like she was in a rapid dream. Her next memory was of a soft nest of pillows, the familiar sight of her berth, her stuff. Being fed Ambrosia and Nectar that tasted like hot buttered popcorn and burnt blue cupcakes.

Then it would all melt away and she would be back fighting monsters in a sulfuric pit. Being pulled under a lake of blood. Demonic skeletons leant over her, sliced through her arms, spiders attacked her nakedness. Percy was stabbed over and over again.

Pain lanced its way up her body, and screams tore through her. She always screamed the same thing. The same name.

"_Percy!"_

"_Annabeth, hey it's okay!"_

A soothing voice, a familiar voice, familiar hands trying to push her back down. But she fought, and thrashed, and screamed louder.

"_IT'S OKAY!"_

"_We need to do something!"_

None of the voices was what she wanted, she screamed Percy's name again.

"_Jason no, we can't move her!"_

"_She's going to hurt herself if she keeps thrashing around!"_

Annabeth was being lifted in the air. She remembered being born away by a sea of skeletons, Percy being dragged away from her.

"_PERCY!"_

"_He's here, Annabeth! He's right here!"_

She was laid on something. Not as soft as the pillows, but warm, that smelt like ocean water, and blood. A too fast heart beat pounded under her ear.

A shaking arm reached up and wrapped itself around her. "_Annabeth."_

Annabeth had no strength to open her eyes, but the voice rushed over her like a warm wave. She curled herself around that warmth, burying her head deep into him.

"_Percy," _ she breathed out.

Something warm settled over her, a blanket.

She didn't remember anything else.

**xxxxXxxx**

The next time Annabeth came around she heard the culling of a seagull off in the distance. And closer, the sound of breathing. Something rose and fell under her head.

She blinked a thick coating of grit from her eyes. Shapes began to form into images. The rises and valleys of a blue comforter draped over her body. The contours of Percy's body beside her.

They were both lying on the small berth in Percy's cabin. She recognized it by the blue wool blanket draped over them both, and a cluster of weapons in disarray in one corner. The light through the small porthole was gray. It was either really early in the morning, or really early in the evening.

She found both her arms to be completely wrapped in bandages, from her wrist to her shoulders. Blood stained parts of the bandages in dark red blotches.

Something thick was wrapped around both her legs. She lifted the blanket and checked, and saw them both legs wrapped in bandages too, like stockings. Her broken ankle was properly splinted and wrapped as well.

She was dressed in a Camp Half Blood Shirt that was many sizes too big for her, so that it fit her like a night gown, no pants and bare feet. Percy was in boxer shorts, and his bare legs rested underneath hers.

Percy had no shirt, and his side and abdomen were heavily bandaged as well as his entire left hand. His eyes were closed, and his face was a covered in cuts and scrapes in various stages of healing. All of them stuck out starkly against his skin which was ghostly pale.

"_Percy-"_ Tears came to her eyes as she reached out to ghost her fingers over his face. Her tears fell and dropped onto his eyelids. A sob shook through her.

"_Annabeth?"_ Her name was on Percy's cracked lips. His eyes pushed open, intermingling her tears into the corners of bloodshot sea green eyes.

Annabeth smiled at him. "Hey," She tried to stifle her sob, biting her lip.

His face was drawn in pain, but the concern on his face still pushed through. He had heard her. "What's wrong?"

Annabeth tried to talk, but another sob broke through and chocked her, ending her smile. Her head dropped against Percy's forehead, more tears splashing on his face.

She felt Percy move to hold her, and heard his groan as he moved.

The sound made her cry harder, sobs pulsated her body with pain.

The cabin door squeaked open. "Annabeth?-"

Piper's voice entered the room before her. Her friend's footfalls echoed across the floor until she felt her hand on her shoulder. "It's okay-" Piper turned Annabeth towards her and lifted a canteen to her lips. Annabeth drank the Nectar inside that tasted like a blue cupcake and salty tears.

"Percy," Jason had come into the room without Annabeth knowing it. He was at the foot of the berth, his shadow over them.

"_Help her,"_ Percy's voice was strained, pleading so brokenly it sliced through her heart.

"We are man. Look you're both not well yet. Stay down okay?"

"The pain will get better Annabeth," Piper's sounded sad, like she wanted to cry too. She smiled, trying to mask it. "You just need to rest." Piper glanced down at Annabeth's arms and her smile became sad liker her voice. "I need to change your bandages. Jason-" Annabeth watched her eyes turn to her boyfriend.

Jason seemed to sense what she needed and disappeared somewhere where Annabeth couldn't see.

"Annabeth," Piper sounded hesitant. "Your wounds – your arms and legs, they're _bad_. It's going to hurt. Hazel has a sleeping draught she learned how to mix from her mom- if you need it-"

Annabeth shook her head. Pain stabbed in between her eyes. "No, just do it-" She felt herself shaking despite her trying to control it. "I don't want to sleep Piper."

A tear shook free from Piper's face as both girls watched each other. The pain of both of them permeated through the cabin.

Jason came back inside, a hefty first aid kit in his hands. Hazel was behind him with a bronze bowl and a glass bottle with a wooden cork.

Jason handed off the kit to Piper and then left without saying anything.

At first Annabeth didn't understand. She wouldn't have minded if he stayed. Gods help her, she was too weak to care. But then she remembered the skeleton's rancid breath. The slashes of the knife, how high up the blade had gone. She had been so out of it, she'd forgotten. But Jason hadn't.

Annabeth shook her head when Hazel held out the vial full of a cloudy, pale yellow liquid that she knew was her mother's homemade sleeping remedy.

"Percy," Hazel's voice shook, strong, opinionated Hazel Lévesque, who had survived Gaea in two lifetimes. "I need to-" she gestured to his side and his hand and held up the vial, offering it to him like she offered it to Annabeth.

Annabeth watched Percy shake his head. She felt something tug deep in her gut that wasn't pain, not physical pain anyway. They were both afraid of the same thing that would be there waiting for them if they closed their eyes.

"Hazel," Percy's voice was dry and gravely, like it hadn't been used in a long time, or had been overused screaming. "It's okay."

Annabeth had known Percy since they were both 12. She remembered that first night in the infirmary. When she watched over him and spoon fed him Nectar and Ambrosia. She knew what he looked like when he was in pain; and that's what he looked like now. But he was pushing it down, choosing pain and reality over dreams. He was making the hard decision so Hazel wouldn't be forced to.

_Dumb stupid-_

Like it was already agreed upon before they entered the room, Hazel tended to Percy, and Piper redressed Annabeth's wounds. The two girls unwound reams of bloody bandages from their bodies.

The cuts on Annabeth's arms went from the tip of her wrists clear up to her shoulders, the entire length of the bandages. The ones on her legs were just as gruesome, snaking and dark with blood. More sodden bandages fell into a heap on the floor.

Hazel pulled off blood soaked gauze from four separate splints on Percy's hand. One on his wrist, and three others from each of his broken fingers and his thumb. The digits stood out puffy and swollen, but it was the wound in his side that made Annabeth gasp.

It was jagged and deep made big by skeletal fingers stuffing it with leaves for the sacrifice. Hazel poured Nectar inside the wound and blackish red blood and pus trickled out. The entire time this happened Percy didn't cry out, not once. He slammed his eyes shut and gripped the blanket under his hand so tightly that his knuckles turned paper white, but nothing else.

Annabeth wasn't squeamish, but these wounds on Percy. She remembered the sword that did it, his scream, his half choked cry to her, trying to tell her things before it was too late.

She rolled over the side of the berth and vomited.

Piper jumped back from the rancid puddle, Annabeth's arm trapped midway in her rolled bandage like a marionette string. "Annabeth," Piper sounded extremely worried. "Do you need to stop?"

Annabeth shook her head. Her entire body ached. She wiped her mouth. "I'm okay." Her breath deafened her ears.

Piper wasn't a weepy girl. But she looked like she wanted to cry again. "Almost done okay?"

Annabeth heard the reassurance in Piper's voice combat and win with the fear she saw in her eyes; and she was extremely glad she had such a friend.

Piper wrapped remainder of the cloth bandage carefully around her arm, hiding the hideous cuts there. She found herself holding onto Percy, laying back against him after his side was rebandaged. Her head rose and fell like a boat on waves under his panting breath.

Her body screamed with exhaustion when the last bandage had been secured. All of the adrenaline that had pumped through her in Tartarus was gone. She felt heavy, like a thousand pounds of lead at the bottom of the deepest ocean. She had never felt this so weak before. She found herself crying without knowing why.

"Annabeth-"

"I'm sorry," Annabeth's voice was only a whisper. She couldn't manage any more than that.

Percy's uninjured hand wiped at her eyes with calloused fingers zigzagged with red scratches. He tried to offer her a reassuring smile, but it only came out sad.

"Hazel-" Percy voice still sounded so awful. It made Annabeth wince to hear the grating, dragged through the dirt cadence of it. "Is, is everyone-?"

"They're all alive Percy," Hazel spoke softly to him. She picked up the bowl of nectar she had used to clean their wounds. It was now a dark liquid red. "A few cuts and burns, but nothing serious. It's you two we're worried about." She set a hand on his bandaged shoulder.

"What about," Percy winced like he had a headache. "Ghosts-was it a dream?"

Hazel's eyes lowered to the floor, like she was afraid to answer him. When she raised them again they were heavy like stones. "I asked Nico to make contact with the Underworld. The last line of the Prophecy: '_An Oath to Keep with a Final Breath.'_ There were ghosts down in Hades that were willing to come, friends. To close the doors, so you and Annabeth could come out-"

_Luke_, _Silenna, Beckendorf, Michael Yew, Zoe Nightshade._ Annabeth remembered bits and pieces, remembered hearing the voices of old friends. She half thought she had been delusional. But, now that she knew it was true; she almost wished she was.

"Frank's and Leo's mom, My -" Hazel's voice broke. "My mom-"

She turned away so quickly that Annabeth knew she was crying.

"They knew what would happen, that they would be trapped down there." Hazel turned back to them, eyes damp, saying what Annabeth was thinking. "They wanted to help us."

Percy's eyes closed heavily and when he opened them again Annabeth saw they were also damp.

Hazel must have seen it too. Because she picked up the vial of sleeping draught like it was a distraction so Percy wouldn't lose face."It's not all my mother's ingredients. The base is made from vines from the Hypnos' cabin. Piper gave some to me. I just added parts of herbs my mom showed me will help keep dreams at bay."

Percy shook his head again. "I think I want to be here a bit longer."

Annabeth felt his arm tighten around her.

Hazel nodded in a kind of defeat. "Try and get some rest you two okay?" Her warm brown eyes found Annabeth's.

Piper pulled the blanket over them both. She hugged Annabeth carefully around all her wounds. Hazel kissed Percy on the cheek, a small kiss, but so aching it made Annabeth's chest hurt to watch something so sweet.

"Thank you." Annabeth said to both Hazel and Piper.

Neither one of them looked like they had slept in days. Their eyes were hollow, looking as worn down as Annabeth felt. But they were still standing there, helping her and Percy.

Piper squeezed her shoulder. "We'll talk more later, okay?"

She and Hazel turned left through the door; both stole one last glance at Annabeth and Percy before Hazel shut the door quietly behind her.

Sleep scrabbled at Annabeth trying to pull her under like a tidal current, but she fought it. She was afraid of her dreams. Afraid that if she slept she would be back there, not here.

Here in the ship berth that smelled like the ocean, and cypress wood. The joints of the ship creaked and groaned. The sounds of her friends footfalls walking down the hallways to their own cabins. Their voices, ever present behind the door, concerned for them.

She laid her head in the crook of Percy's neck, felt his hand go up by her head. She listened to him breathe.


	14. Hazel 7

**HAZEL**

Hazel didn't know how long she stood outside of Percy's cabin. It could have been minutes; it felt like hours. The ship rocked under the waves; the waters underneath them changed as they crossed into the Atlantic Ocean. Percy would be able to sense the change. He had done so a million times since she had met him. He called it a _Son of Poseidon _thing.

The thought of Percy made Hazel's throat close up; she cleared it like she merely had a frog in it. Her breath came out in a sniff, and tears fell from her eyes and dropped onto the wood of the hallway floor.

The tears shook her back into reality and she set a hand to the door like it was something sad that had emerged from the wood, cold and lonely. She pressed her forehead to it with a sigh.

A hand touched her shoulder and spun her around, half in a battle stance that she couldn't help because they had fought for so long.

It could have been anyone, Jason, Piper, Coach Hedge, though the touch felt human –

Frank stood there, hand on her shoulder. His arms were stained a deep purple like he had dropped them in a vat of dye. Some sort of herbal concoction Hedge insisted on smearing on all of their dragon burns. The Satyr claimed that it would heal them faster than Ambrosia. It was actually helping, but it smelled like wet, wild donkey.

Hazel's movement shook another tear lose on her face. There was an moment where she didn't move, pretended that it didn't happen. But then Frank did something he'd never done before. He reached up and wiped the tears off her face.

"They're asleep," Hazel said by way of an answer to a question that neither one of them had asked. "Where's Leo?"

Frank paused in his touch like he was taking a breath. He seemed to be gauging exactly what she meant. "He's down in the engine room."

Hazel heard the hurt in Frank's voice. She hadn't meant to put it there. She realized something on this whole journey. She loved Leo, yes. He was the connection to her first real love, her Sammy. It had brought them closer together. But the way she felt for Frank, it was different.

"He," Frank suddenly looked lumbering, like he was trying to turn into an elephant, but couldn't remember how to. He found a sudden fascination in the ground, like a pile of golden drachma had appeared at his feet. "He said he didn't want to be bothered because he was working on something."

The hurt in Frank's voice amplified; but after his stutter Hazel knew why it was really there. She knew why Leo was down there in the engine room, and so did Frank.

_Oh Frank._

Hazel's heart ached for both Frank and Leo.

"She was really pretty," Hazel's words raised Frank's head up to her. "Your mom. You look a lot like her-"

Frank looked like he wanted the floor to turn back into trees and swallow him. "Yours too."

The ache tore at her gut from seeing the ghost of her mother again; who had come back up from the Underworld with the others. She had sacrificed herself to save her; and this time she wasn't going to ever come back.

Hazel muttered a Creole word that she had forgotten what it really meant, she just knew it meant _hurt._

She turned, and in a move worthy of Annabeth Chase, she grabbed Frank into a hug. "Thank you."

Frank hugged her back, his arms stunk so bad from smeared purple goo, but she didn't care. She only cared that he was there. They still had so much to do, they had lost so much. Winning was supposed to feel better than this.

Maybe tomorrow it would. When it didn't hurt so much.

Hazel reached up and kissed Frank again, longer than she had ever done before. When she pulled away she saw he had been crying. And this time she wiped off his face.

"We should uh," Frank cleared his throat, and took such a messy swipe at his eyes that Hazel knew he was trying to compose himself. "We should probably go and see if there are anything else we can fix on the ship. It took a big hit from the storm."

"Yeah okay," Hazel agreed. She took one last glance at the closed doorway of Percy's cabin, and whispered a silent prayer to her dad. _I know you don't like to help the living; but make an exception._

She held out a hand to Frank, and felt his slide into hers. They walked down the hallway until they reached a winding set of ascending spiral steps that led up to the deck of the Argos.

They both emerged on deck into a bright afternoon sunlight that had broken through the clouds like Coach Hedge had shouted at them to do so. The air was warm with salt, and the waves stayed calm below. Festus clicked and hummed, like he enjoyed the change from not fighting and keeping them from being shot out of the air by monsters.

Leo wasn't at the helm; and Festus ran on an auto pilot mode. The entire ship was Leo's baby his absence made Hazel feel like the ship was sailing sideways. Coach Hedge sat on the east end of the ship, leaning against the wooden rails. A travel sewing kit was opened on his lap , pins were in his mouth, and he worked what look like a vine threaded through a needle over a crack in his wooden breast plate. He muttered and bleated a lot, like sewing wasn't a skill he had mastered.

"Zhang," Hedge raised his head at the sound of their footfalls on the planks. "Lévesque." He stood up and a red pincushion and a set of teeny tiny orange handled scissors rolled off of his lap. "Where have you two been?" He looked at them in accusation. "Do I need to go get the cowbells from stables?"

"We were taking care of Percy and Annabeth," Frank said it almost like a dare.

Hazel watched the angered annoyance fall off of the old goat's face like the scissors and pin cushion had from his lap. He walked over to them, his hooves clicked on the deck. "Are they any better today?"

It had two days since they had rescued Annabeth and Percy from Greece. They were both still in rough shape; only having bouts of consciousness and lucidity. Even with all the nectar and ambrosia Piper and Hazel had given them, their wounds were almost healing at a mortal rate.

And the nightmares – Hedge heard the screams. They all had. Hazel had seen the Fields of Punishment down in the Underworld – but she had never heard anything like what she heard from her friends. Sometimes it was Annabeth screaming for Percy to not die. Sometimes it was Percy screaming for something to stop attacking her. Sometimes it was both of them.

Those times were the worst; it sounded like someone trying to rip the wings off a dragon fly. Hazel's arms were bruised from the times she tried to calm their thrashing.

They had all agreed to tend to them in their own bunks instead of the sick bay, because the familiarity of their stuff might give them some comfort. Which it did, for the first five minutes. But then Annabeth woke up screaming.

The only thing Hazel and the others found that eased those horrible sounds was physical contact. Jason had moved Annabeth into Percy's room the night before when it got so bad that Annabeth's screaming had permeated up to the deck of the ship. And Percy's chased hers, calling out: _"Noo!"_ like he could hear her. When Jason set her in Percy's bunk, it was like a million sleeping draughts. Because they both stopped screaming, like they couldn't bear to be separated, even when they weren't awake.

"They were more awake," Hazel responded evenly about the situation for the first time in days. "They're both still weak, but-"

"Good," Hedge bleated cutting her off. He adapted an errant stray parental kind of look, before it vanished. "But as soon as Chase is better, it's back to her own bunk." His attempt at humor seemed to fall flat even for him. He picked up the red cushion and brandished the little scissors at them. "I need someone to scrub this deck. I won't have my ship looking like anything but perfection for our victorious grand arrival back to Long Island!"

Hazel and Frank didn't object or try to correct him. They grabbed a pair of stray mops, that, for some reason, sat against the mast. ("I was practicing battle form," Hedge explained as he went back to his sewing.) Hazel filled a bucket with _Pompeii Lava Strength Floor Cleaner_ and they set to work mopping at the planks that hissed a little bit under the molten cleaning product.

Hazel attacked the chore like it was a battle mission. She had been down in Percy's little cabin, smelling blood, and infection, and saw him so still for so long that any excuse to distract herself from it was welcomed.

She and Frank scrubbed the entire deck, from rail to rail. The mop heads were made of asbestos, but Hazel had no fresh water to dilute the extra strength lava in the bucket, so the mop started to smoke by the time she reached the bow of the ship.

She abandoned the mopping after that, not wanting the flames to get too close to the small charred piece of wood in the pocket of her jeans. There were burned already flecked holes in the denim already. They had run out of the asbestos cleaning aprons they were supposed to wear when using this product.

Someone threw a bucket of ocean water onto the mop and steam rose like a cloud into the air.

Leo stood on the other side of the steam, "Sorry, I thought you could use a hand, and I needed to send an Iris Message. We should be in range now."

The sarcasm was Leo; but his voice sounded rough, like it been overused. His eyes were red, almost bloodshot. His shirt and jeans looked and smelled slept in.

Hazel was overcome with an emotion like a coin sliding sideways down her throat. She lunged forward and hugged Leo.

Leo's arms hung about like he didn't know what to do. But she felt him hug her back.

"Your mom was really brave Leo," Hazel pulled back from Leo.

"Yeah," Leo smiled like she had seen him in their shared vision of Sammy on the porch of his Texas home. Something half stunned, half sad. "She was. Yours too." His eyes moved up to Frank, who Hazel saw watching them. Not in jealousy. Just watching. "And yours too."

The stunned look on Leo's face increased when Frank suddenly hugged him. Not a fist bump, bro hug. But a real kind of hug, with both arms.

Leo's arms hung in the air for a moment again like kite strings caught in a tree. But then Hazel watched as he hugged Frank back, a real kind too.

Leo pulled back after a few seconds. "Uh, thanks man." He punched Frank in the shoulder. "I know how you feel about fire; but the steam from the burning mop is gone so-"

"Yeah sure," Frank agreed. But, backed _way_ away and pulled Hazel with him.

Leo didn't look upset, because he knew Hazel _literally_ had Frank's life in her hands. Leo set the dirty mop head on actual fire then quickly doused it with the remaining ocean water from the bucket he had brought.

A cloud of steam shot into the air like the contrail from a space shuttle. A small, thin rainbow arched over the steam from the bright sunlight."Fingers crossed guys." Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden drachma. "Oh Fleecy, do me a solid." He tossed the coin into the steam and it vanished. "Show me Chiron, Camp Half Blood, Long Island."

At first nothing happened. Hazel had never sent an Iris Message. She watched Percy attempt to do it once; but it hadn't worked. She didn't know if Iris Messages had call waiting, or if the Goddess had been affected by the split personality disorder like the other Olympians.

When nothing continued to happen, Leo swept the air like it would give a better signal. "Come on, _come on!"_

A face emerged from the steam and Leo jumped back.

It was Iris, but not like Hazel had seen before. She wasn't wearing a tye dyed hippie Mumu or yellow tinted sunglasses. Instead she was in a long Greek Style white robe, her long hair French braided down her back. Bronze guards were on her arms, leather thongs on her hands, a quiver of arrows strapped to her back. A Celestial bronze knife that looked like Annabeth's was gripped in her hand.

She looked fierce and growled like she had been woken up from a nap. "I'm sorry, your call cannot be completed at this time. Please try your call again later."

"What happened to Fleecy?" was Leo's first question.

Iris was indeed the massager goddess, but she had outsourced much of her day to day message responsibilities to a cloud nymph named Fleecy so she could in turn run her emporium of granola and love crystals.

"That's not a valid command," Iris said like she was some prerecorded prompt. "Please try again-"

"This is important!" Leo shouted to the Goddess. "I need to talk to Chiron! Tell him it's Leo!-"

Iris turned and stuck her head almost _through_ her message. "Look kid, I don't care if you're_ Hercules_! I'm kinda in the middle of something!"

There was the sound of an explosion behind her and her background was enveloped in a wall of fire. Iris turned to it and shot and arrow from her bow with a battle cry. Something screamed and fell behind her. "Whatever little girlfriend you want to IM, or whatever order you want to place at my Emporium. I don't have time-"

"It's about Gaea!" Leo shouted.

Iris turned to him, her face stunned. "What about her?"

"She's gone, we defeated her!" Leo yelled in a rush.

"Very funny!" Iris hacked at something with her knife off the message. There was a scream and a flash of purple. When Iris came back into the full image of the message her knife was bloody. "Somebody named _Leo_ single handily defeated the most evil Titan of the World. Try again-"

"_Stop it!"_ Hazel saw that the purple thing that had fallen was a Roman demigod. It looked like Dakota, his mouth stained red from Kool Aid. His arm bled from a gash that glowed bright green.

Which only meant one thing: the Romans had arrived Camp Half Blood, and it hadn't been a diplomatic meeting.

Iris whipped her head to Hazel, like she wanted to attack her through her own message.

"It's true!" Hazel saw more flames rise behind the Goddess, and hared the cry of Dakota's wounded Calvary Eagle as it pulled up to avoid the fire. "We're the Seven of the Prophecy! We closed the Doors of Death in the House of Hades! Please, listen to us! You don't have to fight. Please! Let us talk to Chiron!"

"I remember you girl," Iris glared at her."Wasted my perfectly good gluten free snack cake products on those Cyclops! Didn't even know what an Iris Message was! I most certainly will _not _ let you speak with Chiron! I only trust a _Greek_ to talk to Chiron!"

"I'm Greek!" Leo shouted. "Son of Hephaestus!"

"You're consorting with _that_ one!" Iris pointed the tip of her blade at Hazel like she was worse than a pile of garbage. Hazel resisted the urge to punch the Goddess of the Rainbows in the face. "Chiron will only talk to a _true, honest, demigod! _Let me speak to Percy Jackson, and I will patch the connection through."

"Percy's hurt, he _can't_ talk!" Hazel yelled, silently adding '_you rainbow hugging waste of a message' _under her breath. "We saved him and Annabeth Chase from Tartarus. They helped us seal her in the House of Hades. Put us through to Chiron!" Hazel shouted the last part with a wave of hot anger.

Her camp was attacking Camp Half Blood, campers were being slaughtered. The Goddess needed to get over her issues.

Iris looked at Hazel like she had just rethought her policy on her usage of her gluten free snack products as weapons. But then the Goddesses' eyes widened at the sight of Nico coming up behind Hazel with Jason and Piper.

Apparently the image of _three_ Greek half bloods was enough to sway her. Though technically, Jason was Roman, Iris didn't seem to care. "If this is some kind of prank call; I'm revoking all of your data and roaming plans!"

"Fine!" Hazel snapped, not knowing what half of that meant. "Now show us Chiron!"

Iris waved angrily like she was waving away bugs. The image of a Centaur with a thick curly hair and an equally thick beard replaced the Rainbow Goddess. He wore a celestial bonze breast plate and carried an enormous bow made of cypress wood.

There was a roar of noise behind him like a raging battle. Arrows flew over his head like birds. The Roman Calvary eagle cried out in the background.

Chiron stared past Hazel, and Frank. looking over her shoulder at Nico.

"Chiron-" Nico spoke the voice like he hadn't said the name in a long time. He sounded all of 12.

"Nico," The Centaur lowered his bow. "My boy, how are," Chiron swept his eyes over Jason, and Leo, then Piper. "Are you all safe?-"

"We're alive," Nico said, and the Centaur's eyes met his in a kind of understanding.

"Chiron," Jason stepped up to the Iris Message like it was a teleconference. "Are the Roman Campers –are they there?"

"They're at the boarders," Chiron turned to look over what looked like a field of strawberry fields. "So far our defenses have held up fairly well, only one has managed to break through. A scout with a particularly red stained mouth."

"Dakota," Hazel breathed. She had never really hung out with Dakota; they were in different Legions. Plus the whole Kool-Aid obsession thing kind of freaked her out. But still she –"He's not _dead_ is he?"

"Some of Ares Cabin got to him, and Iris took him down with her bow." Chiron said it like he was exasperated. "She hasn't shot an arrow in a millennia, I don't know why in_ Hades_- the boy is okay. He's being looked after by Apollo's cabin. I've given them orders not to keep him confined. He might be useful as a bargaining tool."

"He's not a _tool!"_ Hazel shouted. The centaur looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. It was half impressed, half 'who are you?'

"This is the sister you went to retrieve?" Chiron's question was directed to Nico.

Hazel watched him nod, like Chiron was a particularly scary math teacher.

"I value the lives of _all_ demigods, Roman or Greek, child," Chiron said through the Iris Message to her. "This camp has seen too much bloodshed already. I do not wish anymore."

Chiron we're almost there!" Jason shouted. "We'll be at camp in another day; you have to hold them off until we reach Long Island! We did it."

Chiron looked at Jason like he'd gone insane. "You did?-You mean?-"

"We shut the doors to House of Hades," Jason told him. "Gaea's gone, and she isn't rising again, not ever."

Chiron was a centaur, probably as old as time itself, but Hazel saw him stare at Jason in complete awe.

"Where is Percy? and Annabeth?"

"We got them out," Hazel said. She knew Chiron hadn't known they were in Tartarus. This was the first communication they had had with either of their camps since they started this quest. She quickly filled him in on what happened. Chiron's eyes went wider in shock, and what looked like deep rooted pain.

"Sir, you have to hold Camp Jupiter outside of your borders until we arrive! If Reyna manages to get inside she will not back down until your camp is destroyed!"

"I will do my best Daughter of Hades," Chiron promised her. "The Hunters of Artemis have blockaded our western border – I will confer with Thalia to expand the perimeter."

Behind Hazel, Jason paled at the mention of his sister's name. "We haven't seen the Hunters since the Wolf House. Is Tha- are they alright?"

"Your sister is fine, Jason." Chiron reassured. He looked over his shoulder. A blur of campers in orange shirts and battle gear raced past him. "We will do our best to hold off Camp Jupiter's Legions from our borders. But, I am sworn to protect this camp from invasion. If they break through, I will adhere to it." Chiron swept a hand through the air and the message ended.

Hazel felt like she had been dumped with a bucket of ice water and thrown to the bullies in her old school yard. Reyna was a warrior, she and the Camp Jupiter Legions would fight to the death. So would Chiron and the campers at Half Blood Hill. The two sides of demigods would destroy each other, and Gaea being buried back in the earth wouldn't matter.

It would still all end in blood.

"Leo!" Hazel turned around so fast she bumped into Leo who was right behind her. He twisted a finger in his ear from her shouted cry. "We need to put the ship in that hyper solar mode thing!"

"The ships too damaged from all the monster attacks and the storms," Leo told her." It won't handle another Hail Mary move."

"Then we have to fly!" Hazel returned so quickly it was like a firing bullet from revolver. "Frank can become a dragon, and Jason-"

"Annabeth and Percy are still too weak to be moved out of bed," Jason said.

Hazel shook with anger, not at them, not really. Jason placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hazel, if anyone can hold off Camp Jupiter, it's Chiron."

"If anyone else gets hurt!-"

"They _won't,"_ Jason promised. "I won't let them."

Before Hazel had met Jason she had heard stories about him. The famous Praetor who had almost single handedly won the war against Titans, Reyna's Second-In-Command. He was like a character from one of her old graphic comic books back in the 1940's, something not real, too perfect.

But now; she'd met him, she'd fought beside him. She saw the kid behind all the hype. Jason wasn't some fake cartoon character. He meant what he said.

"We'll be there in 23 hours, 6 minutes and 3 seconds, exactly." Leo said by way of reassurance. "Jason's right, Chiron's one butt kicking Centaur. He won't let anyone get hurt, even the 'enemy'."He air quoted "enemy."

Hazel didn't feel comforted. Not even when Leo offered her a reassuring smile and Frank put his arm around her.

**xxxxXxxxx**


	15. Percy 8

**PERCY**

Percy hated lying down; even when he was wrapped up with more bandages than a mummy, and so weak he needed a hand with everything. And he meant _everything_. It was embarrassing, but Piper had volunteered to walk him down to the facilities with Jason each time he needed it. It was awkward, and painful, and he didn't like to think about it, like, _ever. _

Leo had come down a few hours ago to Percy's cabin, what Hedge had deemed the "Sick Bay until Annabeth can hobble back to her own room." and told them they were a day away from Camp Half Blood, and about the Iris Message from Chiron.

Percy's eyes had widened at the thought of Camp Jupiter circling around Half Blood Hill, itching for a war. He had been at both camps, and even though Camp Half Blood would always be home, Camp Jupiter was like a second home too. He didn't want anyone from _either_ side to be hurt.

Camp Half Blood – Percy hadn't seen it in nearly a year. The illusion of it down in Tartarus was like a sucker punch. But though the image itself of the camp was almost an exact replica, the rest of it was all so warped and unreal. Now he was less than 24 hours away to seeing the _real_ thing. It made his ADHD itch so much that he wanted to sit out on deck and watch for the Long Island shoreline.

But Hedge had placed him and Annabeth on lockdown in the cabin with the others approval. They were afraid that if an attack happened from either Camp Jupiter or Camp Half Blood he and Annabeth would be caught unable to defend themselves. A decision Percy adamantly protested; but it seemed being unable to sit up without being winded and wincing disqualified him for a vote.

He sat up in his bed (on a lot of pillows that Hazel and Piper had brought up from their bunks) in a half cross legged position that made him grimace a bit from his side. But he had been lying down for days (except for those embarrassing moments) that he wanted to move.

Annabeth had finally been well enough to climb out of bed a few hours ago. Jason had come to check on them and she had bargained (and by bargained Percy meant '_threatened'_ ) him to escort her down to the girl's showers and wait outside to escort her back so she could clean herself properly. She had come back from this trip just a moment ago, limping on a set of aluminum crutches Leo had brought up from _real_ sick bay, a plastic Value Mart bag tied to her broken ankle, and her arms freshly bandaged. Percy could tell because they weren't dotted with blood. She looked, _wet _but clean in a pair of loose pajama pants and an orange tank top. He also assumed that her legs were freshly bandaged as well, but he wasn't up for peaking.

Jason offered Percy a wave in the doorway.

Percy waved at him with his unbandaged hand. The other hand looked like a giant swollen mitten was tied to his arm. He kept it lowered because it throbbed when he raised it higher than his heart.

"You guys need anything?" Jason asked them. He and Frank had already loaded them down with enough water and Nectar to last 9 years, plus two enchanted plates from the dining room so they didn't have to leave to get food.

Percy shook his head. There were, thankfully, no urges to use the bathroom. He could go an entire lifetime without having to do that again. "No man, I think we're good."

Annabeth sat in the chair Hazel had brought in the room so they could sit somewhere besides the bed when they were able. She leant over and dried her hair on a towel. Her blonde curls shook loose, and the smell lemons from her shampoo assaulted Percy's nose.

Percy hadn't seen Annabeth's hair absent of blood in such a long time. He'd almost forgotten what it looked like.

"I'm sorry to do this guys," Jason said guiltily. "But you're still both banged up; if anyone attacked-"

"Dude, it's okay," Percy reassured. He and Jason didn't always see eye to eye. But that had been at the start of this mission. Now, after everything Jason had done for him, Percy felt a bond with the demigod. He already had a brother, but Jason was a close second. "We understand."

The other half of the '_we'_ cut Percy a look like she hadn't been consulted in that conversation. But she looked too tired to argue, and took her rage out on cutting her nails that had grown _way_ too long since they had last seen clippers.

The entire scene, Annabeth in her pajamas, hair damp from a shower, sharing the same cabin as Percy, leaning over a chair with a pair of metal nail clippers. It was so _domestic-_ like one of those Rockwell paintings his mom loved so much. Percy would've smiled at the thought, if the mention of his mom in said thoughts didn't drop his heart to the pit of his stomach.

"You probably already know Perce," Jason said. "But we crossed into the Atlantic this morning. So Iris Messaging is back online – Just so long as Iris doesn't get pissy with you."

Jason set a small leather sack tied with black beaded thread on the dresser Percy never used as anything but a place to put his dirty clothes and weapons. He had been so wiped out that he hadn't even had the energy to change his clothes in days, so the dresser top was surprisingly clean.

"Thanks," Percy said. "I mean it man, thanks for everything. You really-"

"You would've done the same." Jason returned. "It took _all_ of us to close the doors; so don't just thank me." Jason cast a glance at Annabeth, who had stopped clipping her nails, and stared at both of them with her penetrating gray eyes. "Call if you guys need anything," Jason jiggled the leather sack and a tinkling of golden drachmas echoed inside.

He closed the door and Percy heard him arguing with Hedge on the other side how he _hadn't_ installed the triple Schlade lock on like he had asked, because it was against fire code. Their argument carried off down the hallway until it tapered off completely.

Annabeth reached around for her crutches that rested on either side of the chair and limped over to the dresser. She picked up the sack and carried it over to the bed. She undid the cord that cinched the pouch closed and turned it upside down.

Drachmas fell on the mattress like a soda machine coin return.

Percy plucked one of the golden coins. He fingered the Greek head on the flat of one side, rotating it over his thumb and pointer finger.

Annabeth reached over onto the nightstand by the bed and grabbed a glass half full of water. She removed a battery powered curling iron from where it sat under the bed, and turned it on to a setting called: "_super curling turbo"_

Percy had been a bit baffled as to why she had this device at first. She had curly hair _naturally_, and normally didn't seem to care about the state of her hair. But he discovered that she used it for portable Iris Messaging on the go. Like WiFi.

She had since voiced how she wished she had it Tartarus. Even though it was a bit of a moot point since Iris Message couldn't reach that far. Percy knew that Annabeth just hated being caught so off guard.

The curling iron heated up quickly and Annabeth poured the contents of the glass onto the cylindrical barrel. Steam shot up and arched a spectrum rainbow above the bed from the glare of the sun on the metal hair styling tool.

Annabeth looked at him "Call her Percy."Her gray eyes shone with an understanding that spanned years.

He palmed the coin in his hand. He had called her only once before, a month ago, on a pay phone. But he had only gotten the voice mail.

"Oh Fleecy, do me a solid-" he tossed the drachma into the steam, where it vanished. "Show me Sally Jackson-Blofis, Manhattan, New York."

The face in front of him wasn't what he expected. It was of a battered, smiling Goddess of Rainbows. "Percy Jackson, Gods of Olympus!" Iris leant right up to the Message like it was her reflection in a mirror. "You look awful!"

Percy's eyes widened. Hazel had told him about Iris going all Rambo, but to see it was something else. _Was her hair on fire? _"Iris? What's going on? Where's Flee-?"

"On paid vacation," Iris said _paid vacat_i_on_ like it had been forced on the cloud nymph. "Until she learns that IM'ing her boyfriend during company time is not allowed!"

"Iris," Percy rubbed at his head, which started to hurt from all the confusion. "Sorry, I hate to cut you off but I-"

"Yes, yes I know, big all powerful demigod home from the war, making that oh so important call home, get in line." Iris sounded impatient. "But dear boy, you know you _can't_ call mortals on this, it's forbidden!"

"What?" Percy retorted in a shout. "I've been calling my mom like this for _seven years!_ You've never said that before-"

"You've never called during a _war _before silly!" Iris sounded even _more _impatient.

"Yes," Percy felt his teeth grind. Something that upset him, because of all the things that he hurt down in Tartarus, he could've said 'at least my teeth weren't one of those things.' "I have. Just put Sally Jackson through-"

"Well aren't _we_ testy over a technicality?" Iris said like Percy was a petulant child. A bit of hair that had frizzed out from her braid stuck straight out from the side of her head. Her eyes were green like his, but green like the green crayon in the Crayola 8 pack of crayons. They had a bit of a manic look about them, like she was a kid high on a butt load of sugar and didn't want to go to bed until next year. "I normally don't consent to this; but you did protect my shop from a barrage of monster, _so,"_ Iris waved at her message like she was squeeging off a windshield.

The entire message grayed out for two seconds, then it came back into focus- with Iris still there. "Slight issue here – I can't find her-"

"What are you talking about?" Percy interjected.

"I _mean_, there's no Sally Jackson_ in_ Manhattan. " Iris returned like the answer was obvious as the bandages on his broken hand. "She must've left the city."

"Then find her!-" Percy snapped.

"Gladly," Iris returned. "Just input a location into a new Iris Message, and I'll transmit it to her."

"I don't _know_ where she is!"

"Then how am _I_ supposed to know foolish Demigod?!" Iris sounded really impatient now. A quiver of bows rattled around on her back. "I'm not a low jack Perseus Jackson! I only deliver messages where the sender _tells_ me to!"

Iris seemed to see the way Percy's face was set hard, both in pain and in anger, at not being able get through to his mom.

The Goddess sighed. "I shouldn't be doing this. But, when I glanced through to New York, I got a glimpse of that other mortal you talk too – the teacher."

"_Paul?" _Percy returned.

"Yes, I will put you through to him-" Iris returned. "But, I will only give you _three _ minutes. And you cannot contact _anyone_ else for the rest of the night. If word got out to Olympus that I played with the system, I'll be demoted to Hecate's _secretary's _secretary."

Percy looked at Iris like she had grown an insane second head.

"No need to thank me Perseus, I'm happy to do it." Iris was the Goddess of Rainbows and Messages, but apparently not the Goddess of Clues. She waved her hand over the message again, and the image grayed out.

But this time when it returned, it wasn't the Goddess who reappeared.

It was a English classroom at Goode High School. The rows of desks in front of the blackboard were empty. The only person inside was a dark haired man sitting at the teacher's desk grading homework papers.

When Paul Blofis looked up to stretch his neck, Percy watched him jerk from the image of seeing him in mid air. "_Percy?"_ An entire stack of graded papers fell to the ground.

Percy hadn't heard Paul's voice in almost an entire year. Hearing it now, he felt light headed. He gaped at his stepdad. "Paul-"

"You you're _alive!"_ Paul sounded shocked, but more relieved. He stared at the Iris Message like it was video chat, studying Percy's face. His eyes widened at the way Percy knew he must look. "My god Percy-you-are you okay?-"

"Paul, I don't have much time." Percy cut off his stepfather, not wanting to at all, but he was on a stopwatch. "Where's mom? Iris said she's not in New York-"

"She's meeting her editor in Brooklyn-" Paul returned. He stood up from his desk and walked so quickly around it he almost tripped on his shoes.

Percy felt like a rock had fallen in his stomach. Iris hadn't sent his message because he had overshot by _one_ lousy burrow?

"Wait! I'll call her! Just hang on one second!" Paul dug into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out an iPhone. He dialed a speed dial number and placed the phone to his ear. "Sally! - It's Percy. No _no, _honey he's _alive!_ I'm talking to him! On that Iris message thing-"

Paul lowered the phone from his mouth, and stared at Percy. "Where are you?"

"A day away from home!" Percy said hurriedly. He checked the digital clock on the bedside table. The time gave them only one more minute left.

"Sal, he's coming home!" Paul yelled.

Percy watched Paul paused for a long time, he wished he could hear what his mom was saying. "He'll be here soon-"

"Paul-" Percy felt like he was rushing to catch a bus before it pulled out of the Port Authority Terminal. "Put it on speaker!"

Paul's eyes widened in embarrassment like he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it. He pressed the keypad and held the phone up to the message.

"Mom," Percy felt his throat close up.

There was a bunch of cracking on the other end of Paul's connection. Like the Iris Message had a bad signal when mixed with the mortal communication cellular line. Percy heard a fragment of his mother's voice break through the line.

He couldn't make out anything of what she was saying, but just the sound of it made him feel like he had jumped naked into the freezing cold waters of Alaska.

"Mom- I'm okay-I'm here! I lo-"

The image suddenly grayed out.

"_Mom!"_ Percy shouted.

An image of Iris appeared behind a back drop of Mt. Olympus. _"I'm sorry, Iris Messaging is Temporarily Out of Service for your area. Please try your call again later." _Her eyes were bright and cheerful , and her mouth was pouted like she was _deeply _upset for a recorded message. There were a few loud clicking sounds and the Iris Message evaporated like fog.

Percy found himself breathing hard, his throat constricted completely closed. He ran an agitated hand through his hair. He turned on Annabeth's curling iron to the full blast, 'melt steel' setting, dousing it with an entire bottle of _Nymphshills_ Spring water. He grabbed another coin off the bed and threw it into the steam. The coin spit itself back at him. He tried another one. It did the same thing, hitting him on the nose.

"_We apologize, but your line is_ still_ temporarily out of service." _ Iris's recorded voice sing-songed again "_Message Two."_

The curling iron started to burn a hole in the blanket. Percy only noticed the smoke when Annabeth snatched the iron and clicked it off before the bed could catch fire.

"Percy," Annabeth said above him, her voice was soft and worried sounding.

He shook the blue blanket, gold drachmas cascaded to the floor like rain drops. He snatched the water glass and threw it against the porthole by his bed. The glass shattered and sprayed the ground like sand.

"Percy-" Annabeth maneuvered herself down to the edge of the bed, having to avoid all the shattered glass. She seized his wrist when he was about to reach for the still hot curling iron to throw it too. "Percy _stop!"_

"I have to talk to her Annabeth!" Percy felt choked by his own breath. "She wasn't – what if she?-" He stumbled over his words in a torrent that heaved painfully out of him. "I have to tell her!-"

"Look at me Seaweed Brain-"Annabeth took his head in her hands. "She knows-okay?-" Her hands were warm and soft. "She knows."

He pulled away and lowered his head, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes. He tried to fight it for one moment, but then he just remembered his mom. He hadn't seen her for such a long time. He wanted to jump through that Iris Message and just – _see _her.

A heavy, high keen of a sob tore from his throat, tears pushed themselves onto the skin of his palms. His broken hand throbbed from the pressure he was putting on it.

He felt Annabeth gently pull his hands away from his face, raising his chin so that he looked at her.

"_I wanted to see her so bad,"_ He half whispered it. The words pushed out of him so scraped and raw sounding that it felt like he'd swallowed some of the shattered glass.

She had tears in her eyes. "I know." One of them broke free and traveled down her face. She leant over and grabbed the back of his head and kissed his forehead.

He sighed so heavily it felt like a sack of celestial bronze cannons. He pressed the top of his head into her chest. More tears pushed out of him, faster, heavier. His body ached from the pressure of it.

Annabeth wrapped her arms tightly around his back. Her hands stroked his shoulders, the short hairs on the back of his neck.

"_It's okay." _She kissed him on the top of his head; a deep kiss with warm breath.

He closed his eyes when she pressed another kiss on the bridge of his nose, right in between his eyes. Her fingers warm on the back of his neck.

Percy opened his eyes, took her face in both his hands, and pulled forward and kissed her, deep and long, almost desperate. He wanted to feel something besides missing people that he cared about.

Annabeth leant into him, and climbed up on the berth as much as she could. Her good leg slid down next to his and it touched him warmly underneath fabric and bandages.

Neither of them broke that kiss. Percy cupped the back of her head, fingers tight in her damp hair.

He kissed her eyes like she had done with him, then the dip of her neck.

Annabeth's hands moved down to the hem of her orange tank top, and his hands met hers and the fabric was up over her head. He stroked her bandaged shoulders like he was warming them. He watched the trembling rise and fall of her chest.

Annabeth grabbed his bandaged, broken hand and kissed his knuckles over the stiff whiteness.

Percy pulled his own shirt up over his head, and discarded off the side of the berth. It was soon joined by the remainder of her clothes, and the remainder of his. Until they were nothing but bandages and bare skin.

Her body was slender, warm, and darkened by black molten bruises and dozens of red spider bites.

He still heard the echo of her screams his ears.

He kissed her, over all her bites and bruises, touching each one of them like he could erase them like pencil marks.

Annabeth stroked his bare skin, sliding under him until they were both lying down on the bed.

Percy kissed a line down both bandages on her arms from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers. He felt as she trembled underneath his hands.

He had never done this before. He was afraid he was hurting her.

But she never asked him to stop. She leant up and kissed all down his wounded side, making it burn, but he didn't ask her to stop either.

When he looked down at her, she was crying. Her eyes seemed to be made out of all the colors of the room, that had melted together from the tears to form a watered translucent gray.

"I love you."

Her tears sped up, and fell rapidly down the sides of her face. She closed a hand over his broken one."I love you too," a smile choked into a sob.

Percy kissed her properly again, and held onto her warmth. He filled himself with everything good and kind and wonderful about this girl, his best friend.

Annabeth's moves began to match each of his in his narrow berth. Percy's body throbbed and ached from it.

But he didn't let her go, and neither did she.


	16. Leo 8

**LEO**

Morning rose far earlier than Leo wanted it too. His body was stiff and tight from sleeping on the concrete floor of the engine room instead of hi foot bunk in his cabin. The heavy hum of the pistons and hydraulics rumbled by him like a monster that was as upset at the whole waking up thing as he was.

He felt like a petrified demigod pretzel. His mouth tasted like something had crawled into it and died after laying rotten eggs on his tongue. An unhealthy amount of '_clicks'_ and '_pops' _sounded off when he stood up and stretched.

The previous days' events ran through his head like a movie stuck on repeat. The image of his mother's ghost at those last moments were burned permanently into his head. She had sacrificed herself for him-

Leo struggled with the tears that pricked at the corner of his eyes. He dug the heel of his hand into them. He'd spent all of the first night after leaving Greece holed up in the engine room crying like a little kid. He had to pull it together. Gaea may be burnt toast, but the war was far from over. If Reyna had her way, there would be nothing left of Camp Half Blood but a smoking crater.

Leo continued to stretch (and curse) as he worked the knots out of his stiff muscles. He climbed the narrow metal spiral staircase that led up to the Pegasus stables.

The _Athena Parthos_ jutted out of the opened doors like a misplaced toy, her caution tape flapped in the wind of the Atlantic. He did a once over of the statue, glad that she didn't look any worse for wear from being dragged all over the world. He just hoped the real Athena didn't smite them for flying with her likeness sticking out, butt first, into the open air.

He passed Blackjack who slept in one of the open stalls, wings folded. He snickered and smacked his teeth, like he was dreaming about eating doughnuts.

Ever since they had rescued Percy and Annabeth, the Pegasus had stayed with them on the ship like he was Percy's personal sentry. When Leo's feet touched the stable's floorboard, Blackjack raised his head and watched Leo with large coal black eyes. He shook his head and snorted and whinnied at Leo, and waited expectantly like he was waiting for an answer as to why he had been woken up.

"We're almost home," Leo said. He had no idea if this was the answer Blackjack wanted. He didn't speak horse like Percy, even attempted horse like Frank.

Blackjack snickered a little lower. Leo walked across the floor to another set of stairs and half wondered if Blackjack was Pegasus Cursing him or something.

This newest set of stairs led up to the cabins for all of them. It was a long hallway with seven doors unevenly distributed between it, three doors on one side and five on the other. The last one was just around a left hand turn into another hallway. That door lead to the conference/dining/rec/war room. Leo's cabin was the first one at the end of this side of the hallway. He'd designed it so that he could be closest to the engine room since he was the only one who knew how to keep things from exploding. Well, the only one besides Annabeth.

At the thought of her, Leo looked down the hallway. Her cabin was three doors down from his. But he only glanced over it, and looked to the left side, at the third door down from where he stood. Percy's cabin. Since they had rescued them from the volcano Annabeth had spent all of her time in there. It was an arrangement that even Coach Hedge hadn't argued about, not after that first night where Annabeth had screamed so loudly that Leo thought someone was killing her.

Leo walked down the hallway and saw Piper turn down the hallway towards him. Her hair looked damp like she'd just come from the girl's shower. She was wearing a bright blue tunic looking shirt and jeans, a white and brown eagle feather braided in the front of her multi length hair. Piper had never taken much stock into being pretty, but Leo always thought she was. Not a girly pretty, an original, unique kind of pretty.

"Leo," Piper stopped walking when she saw him. They hadn't seen much of each other in the last few days. He spent most of his time conversing with Festus, and down in the engine room making sure that the hydraulics didn't decide to just blow up in spite from being pushed so much. That was at least the cover story he gave everyone for hiding out.

Piper looked at him like she was assessing a wounded soldier. "Hey – are you okay?"

Leo wasn't sure how he felt that morning. Relief was there, but so was the fresh wave of mourning from having seen his mom again. "I'm hanging in Pipes." He flashed her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Piper came up to him, and did something she didn't normally do. She hugged him.

Leo hugged her back, no quips or smart remarks. Her Eagle feather tickled his nose.

They pulled back after a moment.

"How about you?" Leo asked her in concern. "You okay?"

"I'm glad we're almost home," Piper's answer avoided the actual question, but Leo left it alone.

Piper was like a sister to him now. Someone he could just talk too without tripping over himself, or worrying about things. They just _got_ each other. So he knew when to joke around with her, and when to leave it. This counted as the second one of those times. "Me too, just hope Reyna hasn't decided to flatten it."

"Chiron can hold her off," Piper said in reassurance. She turned to Percy's closed door like it was a distraction to all the thoughts Leo could sense were whirring around in her brain like a clock work piece. "You came to see how they were doing too?"

It sounded more like a statement then a question.

"Yeah," Leo admitted this like he was trying to sneak away from 5th Period. He stared at the door like it was the Teacher's Lounge. "I know it's probably sucking Centaur's dung being on house arrest in there all night. I figured we should let them know we're almost at Camp so they don't mutiny." He raised his hand to the door, then lowered it for a second like he was second guessing his choice. Then he raised it again with a '_don't be stupid Valdez'_ reprimand to himself and finally knocked.

"Guys?"

Nothing.

"_Guys?"_ Leo knocked again, a little louder.

Still nothing. Leo turned the brass knob and found the door unlocked. It swung open with a creak. He looked to Piper.

She looked back at him with a cock of her head and a look that said: '_You _opened it.'

Leo pushed the door open a little wider. He had the overwhelming sensation to cover his eyes and peak through his fingers before he looked inside.

Piper beat him to his actions and stuck her head in the door way. "Annabeth, it's me-I _oh!-_" Piper said that last part in such a startled way that Leo ducked his head in the doorway beside hers.

Percy and Annabeth were both asleep. Which wasn't unusual, they had been sleeping a lot for days. They'd been through a lot _not_ too. Annabeth was also spooned up next to Percy. Also not usual. Jason had carried her in here days ago because being in the same room as Percy was the only way either of them would calm down and rest.

But the '_not unusual' _ part ended when Leo could see Annabeth's arms wrapped tightly in bandages because she wasn't wearing a shirt, and neither was Percy. There were discarded clothes, including a bra, on the floor by the bed. Annabeth was turned into Percy, the blue blanket barely covering her bare back.

_Oh indeed._

Leo turned to Piper again to see if she would clue him in on a tactical move to proceed with next. She just looked back at him as clueless as he was.

_So much for that._

"Percy-" Leo cleared his throat like he had a frog in it. "Hey-uh," Leo felt like the biggest peeping Tom. This wasn't anything like pretending to spy on Piper in her cabin.

"Annabeth-" Piper came to Leo's rescue. She spoke louder than Leo, and he watched as Annabeth started to move underneath the blanket.

Thank the gods for Leo, Annabeth moved in such a way that the blanket didn't fall down any lower.

Annabeth sat up and turned. When she saw Leo standing there with Piper her eyes widened like an owl's. She pulled the blanket up higher on her body and curse something in Greek, her face going scarlet.

The shifting blanket made a "Annabeth?" come from Percy's mouth and he sat up behind her, the blanket falling off into his lap.

"Sorry, I –_sorry!"_ Leo finally _did_ cover his eyes with his fingers. "We, we just-"

"We're almost at camp," He heard Piper save him again through his hands blocking his eyes.

There was movement on the bed, Leo imagined that Percy and Annabeth both were sitting up more. He imagined, because he wasn't peeking through his fingers like before.

"We need to figure out what went down, I mean, went off, I mean-" Leo felt the urge to kick his teeth in. "War Room, we're meeting in the war room, everyone. Festus said we'll be at Long Island in two hours." Leo sounded like his ADHD and Dyslexia were fighting with each other. He turned with his hands still over his eyes and promptly ran into Percy's dresser.

"Leo are you okay?" Percy's asked. The Son of Poseidon's voice sounded a tad embarrassed for all of their predicaments.

It made Leo feel a little better, a little, but not by much.

"Ten minutes," Leo felt backwards for the door post and found it when he turned banged his knee full on into it. He cursed again and grappled for the wooden post and used it to propel himself out of the room like a gymnast on the Vault.

Leo turned away from the opened doorway and uncovered his eyes once he was safely back in the hallway. Piper joined him a second later, shutting the door. She looked just as stunned as he did at what they had just witnessed. At least he had a friend in this.

Annabeth was only 17, and Percy had just turned 17. But he had done so when they were both in Tartarus. Which wasn't exactly a top notch way to celebrate a birthday.

If it happened, what he thought _it_ was-between Percy and Annabeth, Leo wasn't going to give them health class pamphlets. They had been to literal _hell. _If this helped them heal, he wasn't going to judge. He actually though it was pretty sweet- in a totally non weirdo, creepy guy kinda way.

"So," Leo turned to Piper, his calm, non embarrassed, fun loving smile fully in place for the benefit of them both. "Frittatas or fruit salad for breakfast?"

"Yes," Piper sounded like she was choosing which top shelf whiskey to drown her troubles in.

"Awesome," Leo said. "Just uh, Pipes, if you and Jason ever decide to, um," he nodded towards the closed door and flashed her a smile making a knocking motion with his fist. "I recommend _locking_ the door, or maybe using necktie or something-or _both._"

"Let's go make your frittatas and fruit salad." Piper punched him in the shoulder. Leo ducked before her fist could make contact. Ducking the mock blows of Piper McLean (surprisingly, for belonging to the girliest cabin, she had amazing street fighting skills) was a rhythm he was used to. He was glad that they had a moment of normalcy before they reached the battle at Long Island.

He walked down the hallway with her, turned left at the "T" junction and walked through the opened door of the large dining room/everything else room.

The long table was already set up like a buffet. The enchanted golden plates in the middle were loaded with various kinds of bagels, scrambled eggs, blueberry Belgium waffles, and enough bacon to build an entire hickory cured pig.

The food was all in the center of the table, and Leo's friends sat around it like a wagon circle. Hazel next to Frank. Nico beside Coach Hedge who drank deep from a cup of something that was black and steamed like coffee, but smelled like battery acid. There was a half eaten frozen orange juice cardboard tube smeared with cream cheese on the plate in front of him.

Nico's plate was empty. The Son of Hades looked like Centaur dung. He played with the outer diameter of his plate like it was a musical instrument.

Leo saw Hazel look at her half brother worriedly, like she wanted to force feed him the flaky croissant from her own plate.

All of them looked up when he and Piper entered the room.

"Valdez, McLean," Hedge waved a fork speared with a piece of jagged metal from the OJ tube lid at them. "Sit down, you've been holding up our war council meeting."

"We went to get Percy and Anna-"

"Also holding up our meeting!"Hedge cut off Piper. He started to sound just how Leo remembered him the first time: A crazy physical education instructor to a bunch of destructive troubled teens at Wilderness Camp. Hedge bleated in indignation and bit off the metal from his fork, chewing loudly. "I gave those two leeway for obvious reasons. But it's been four days!"

The satyr swung his fork around like it was a conductor's baton.

Piper and Leo had the sense to slide into empty chairs during Hedge's rant before he took one of their eyes out.

Jason handed a bowl of fruit salad to Piper, and plunked a cup of what, thank Hephaestus, looked like _regular _coffee in front of Leo.

"Thanks man," Leo said over the loud drowning speech Hedge was now giving about civic Olympian duty and responsibility. It was the same one he had heard at Wilderness Camp, except the words "Olympians" and "Gods" had been replaced by "society" and "your fantastic teachers."

Jason looked over at Leo, scrutinizing him. "You good Leo?"

Ever since Jason and Piper had started dating, Leo felt a third wheel. They rarely included him on things like they had on their original First Quest. Leo knew that they weren't doing it on purpose. It was just a boyfriend/girlfriend thing. But it felt nice to be included again.

Especially since everyone on board the Argos , except him, Nico, and Hedge were paired up like Noah's Ark. (Hedge was a gray area; Leo suspected he was in love with the satellite TV).

"I'm good dude," Leo responded to Jason.

Jason reached over Piper and roughed up his shoulder.

"What's going on over there?!" Hedge pounded on the table, sending his breakfast rattling.

Leo jumped up like he'd been caught throwing spit wads at Piper's hair. "Sorry, uh coach, we were just-"

"_Chaos_ is what was going on Valdez!_"_ Hedge had gotten more battle angry ever since he had piloted the Argos to the House of Hades. If we don't keep order, then things dissolve into chaos!"

"Sorry we're late?"

Percy's remark was half like a question. Leo didn't blame him, because Hedge was now _on_ the table top waving his napkin and fork at them like weapons.

They all turned to see Annabeth enter the dining room, followed by Percy. Annabeth was on crutches, and Percy walked like a arthritic old man, favoring his wounded side. But they both _walked _inside on their own two feet. They even matched, in orange camp half blood shirts and jeans.

"Hey guys," Jason was the first to say something to them. He stood up and met them halfway to the table. He hugged Annabeth around her crutches, and slapped hands with Percy, "guy hugging" him a minute later.

Hazel tumbled up of her chair after Jason and slammed Percy with a hug that about threw him completely backwards. Leo watched as Percy winced, but he didn't pull away and hugged Hazel back. She pulled back and kissed his cheek. When he first met Hazel, Leo suspected that she had a kind of hero worship thing going on with Percy. But, after he had watched them interact in the last month, he realized that it was more of a 'brother/little sister' kind of thing.

Piper jumped in right after Hazel. She hugged Annabeth first, then Percy. She too, kissed him. To be honest, it made Leo a bit jealous at all the play Percy was getting.

Frank repeated the same gesture as the girls, minus the kissing of Percy part. Nico just regarded them both with a kind of battle weary smile. And Percy looked at the Son of Hades in the same way. They had known each other since Nico was 12; it made Leo want to be inside their heads for just a second right now to hear what they thought.

"Jackson, Chase," Hedge regarded them over his empty plate. "Good to see you both up and around."

"Thanks Coach," Percy offered. Both he and Annabeth continued towards the table. They made it to the head chair (the one that Percy and Jason had nearly drowned and electrocuted themselves over before.)

Percy pulled out the chair for Annabeth and helped her into it. She leant her crutches against the chair. After she had sat down, Percy took the vacant seat beside her, moving down at a slow, painful looking pace. But neither of them complained.

Hedge stood up from his chair, and walked around the table, hands behind his furry back, like he was Napoleon surveying his army. "Good we're all finally here. I trust you all slept well-"

Leo had just drank from his coffee mug; coffee sprayed from his mouth like a fountain.

Hedge raised an eyebrow at him, and wiped the hot coffee that ran down his face with a bleat.

"Sorry," Leo coughed as Jason whacked him on the back with a raised eyebrow look of his own. Leo wiped coffee droplets off his chin. "Wrong pipe."

Percy rubbed the back of his neck like he had an itch. Annabeth's ears went red.

"As I was _saying_," Hedge glared at Leo like he wanted to cudgel whack him. "We'll soon be at Long Island Sound. I have received intelligence that the Roman Legions have already tried to penetrate the boarders of Camp Half Blood. Chiron, the Head of the Camp, has sent troops to seal the perimeter. But they won't be able to defend against a full scale invasion for very long-"

"Don't underestimate them," Percy spoke up. There was a bright blue blueberry bagel on his plate, but he only picked at it with his fingers. His voice was almost angry for Hedge knocking his home. "The Campers at Half Blood Hill are skilled fighters; they've held out against worse-"

"Reyna and her Legions are among the _best_ fighters I've seen Jackson," Hedge cut him off. "I predict they will breach those borders in minutes, if they haven't done so already-"

"What kind of pep talk _is _this?" Percy's anger increased. A huge wave slammed into porthole on the left side. It sent Hedge's battery acid coffee sliding to the ground. The cup shattered. Piper's fruit salad wound up in her lap.

"Perce," Jason stood up, holding his hand out like he was trying to calm an angry Minotaur. "Calm down, man, it's okay. Hedge only meant-"

"No," Percy insisted. "No it's _not!"_

This time the next wave to hit the ship actually cracked a line down the porthole glass. Hedge grabbed to the table and held on; his hooves slid on the floorboards. Annabeth had started to climb to her feet, saying Percy's name, but the wave that hit the ship threw her back into her chair with a plunk.

Percy stood up. He fisted his good hand and banged it on the table top. "We can't keep pitting ourselves against each other!" He looked over at Hedge accusingly. "That's what started this entire mess in the first place! This _competition_ between Roman and Greek demigods! Gaea counted on a civil war between us so we would destroy each other without her having to do all the heavy lifting! Don't you get it?-"

"_It doesn't matter!"_ His voice was so loud that it resonated off the golden plates and the goblets. Percy looked at all of them, his green eyes seem to dig right through Leo. "It doesn't matter who's 'better', because when we die, we all go to the same place. And if we don't stop this, a _lot_ more of us are going to go there before we're supposed to!"

"Percy," Annabeth had managed to stand back up on one crutch; her hand was on his arm.

"We're with you man," Frank said. "My mom sacrificed herself to keep Gaea down," Frank blinked a lot when he said this, like he had something in his eye. "I'm not letting that be for nothing."

"Me neither," Leo said at the same time Hazel did.

A bit of a jolt went through Leo, and also a bit of sadness. He, Hazel _and_ Frank finally had something that connected all their lifelines together.

Percy looked at them all in turn.

Leo had once been to a playground near his home in Houston. There had been a group of boys picking on this little girl who was playing in the sand box. She was a scrawny looking kid. Long braids tied off with yarn, thick bottle framed glasses, in a hand me down denim romper, and she wasn't wearing shoes. The boys surrounded her called her '_baby_'and '_dirty' _and '_poor'_. They threw twigs at her and kicked sand at her face.

The girl was only around 5, and she didn't even fight back. She just kept screaming: "_Stop it!"_ and tried to cover her face from all the debris. She wound up in a little ball in the small hole she had been digging, crying.

Leo had been 7 at the time and had been swinging upside down on the jungle gym at the time, and heard her.

He didn't even think, he just walked over to the sandbox and told them to leave her alone. Because a) she wasn't doing anything but playing and b) Who the heck thought it was okay to start picking on little girls in sandboxes?

The boys started calling him a "pretard" and Leo started calling them "dumb faces" and a few other words his mother would probably have washed his mouth out with soap for _years_ over later.

Some other kids heard the commotion and came over.

Leo was afraid at first that they were going to take the side of the dumb faced bullies. But instead they all started yelling bad names at the boys along with him. Eventually those boys started to feel ganged up on and left.

Afterwards, the little girl looked up to Leo and the other kids. Which included a redheaded girl in braces, two twin 10-year-old boys, and one 5'7" fifth grader that had been held back five times already.

It was like she couldn't believe how _lucky_ she was for having kids like that around her. Who came to her rescue without any question.

8 years later, Leo stared at the same look on Percy Jackson's face.

"Forget Team Leo, Team Camp Half Blood, and Team Camp Jupiter," Leo felt a little jolt go through him like his hand had caught fire. It wasn't, he checked. "It's Team _Demigod_ all the way baby."

Piper and Hazel smiled at him.

Annabeth looked like she wanted to kiss him. If she wasn't so terrifying, and hadn't, you know, _consummated_ her relationship with Percy, Leo would've been inclined to let her.

"I find that remark a bit racist," Hedge bleated, sounding a little put out.

"Okay, it's Team Demigod plus One Satyr." Leo corrected. "Well _two_, if you count Percy's friend Grover. But if you want to be _totally_ PC about it, there's also Tyson, Chiron, the Party Ponies, Ella the Harpy, Festus' Head, Reyna's Pegasus-"

"Now you're just being _smart_ Valdez," Hedge retorted.

"Annabeth is smart Coach," Leo corrected. "I'm original."

Even Nico cracked a smile at that one.

"Fine then," Hedge clomped his hoof down. "Mr. _Original_, do _you_ want to lead this war meeting?"

"How about we _all_ lead the war meeting?" Jason suggested. "Since this affects all of us?"

"Do Annabeth and I have our voting rights back?" Percy asked.

No one objected.

"Then we vote 'yes'," Percy went on. He then looked to Annabeth like he had spoke prematurely. "I mean, _are_ we voting yes?"

It looked to Leo that Percy was going to add a silent '_baby'_ to the end of his question, but thought better of it.

"Yes we are," Annabeth agreed. "Camp Half Blood is my home. I'm not about to let it be destroyed."

"How long can this Chiron realistically keep Camp Jupiter out?" Frank asked. "I'm not trying to overstep, but I've done enough war games at Camp Jupiter to know their fighting skills, and they're pretty strong."

"The Camp's borders are enchanted by Thalia's Tree to keep out enemies," Percy said. "It's probably why Reyna sent out Dakota as a scout first. To test for any kind of weakness before launching a full scale attack."

"Unless it was Octavian's idea to send out Dakota," Hazel informed. "To test for '_weakness'_ by sending out a stoolie first so he wouldn't waste the 'good Legions', like throwing a stick into a bear trap trigger."

"Did you just say _stoolie?_" Leo looked at Hazel in amusement.

Hazel just looked back at him like she didn't get it. "What?"

"Nothing," Leo couldn't help the grin on his face. He was glad to have something to just laugh about. "You're just awesome."

"I know Reyna," Jason said. "She wouldn't let a skinny little nothing like Octavian influence her on a decision like this. If Dakota went out as a scout, it's because she thought he would be able to get the best intel. He's a Kool Aid head, but he was always wicked with his recon."

"That's true," Frank agreed. "He found me _five_ separate times in war games with only a magnifying glass and a piece of twine, don't ask me how. But now that Chiron has captured him; that makes all bets off doesn't it?" Frank's look instantly sobered."If Dakota doesn't come back, Reyna will see it as a call to invade. No offense to Camp Half Blood again. But when Reyna sets her mind to something, she _makes_ it happen."

"The same for Half Blood Hill," Annabeth said. "Greek and Rome may have different styles of fighting, but both are equally matched. That's the real danger. If Camp Jupiter manages to somehow break the perimeter and a battle breaks out, it won't stop; not until everyone from both sides are dead." She said it like she was about to be sick.

Leo shot a sideways look of concern at her. He braved a: "You okay?"

Annabeth nodded in an _'I'm okay' _ way.

Leo saw that she was visibly starting to shake, like maybe she had gotten out of bed too soon. But her gray eyes were steely, like she was arguing with her body to not wimp out on her. It only affirmed his belief that Annabeth was one tough, scary ass chick.

"Then how do we stop them?" Jason sounded exasperated even asking the question. "Annabeth is right. Neither demigod camp is just going to lie their weapons down and declare a truce. None of us are built like that."

"We don't stop them." _Ah, the crazy eyed look from his fellow Seven._ Leo had been holed up for so long in the engine room he missed these bonding moments. "We make _them_ stop."

"Um, dude, I think that's kind of the same thing." Frank returned.

"No," Leo stood up from his seat. "It's _way better_!" Crazy eyed looks from all his friends were still affixed to him. "What's the one thing both sides have in common?"

"Bloody death?" Hedge offered.

Leo ignored him.

"_Us!"_ Leo clamped Percy on the shoulder, then Jason. Percy winced, Jason looked like some of Leo's gears had come undone and rolled underneath the table. "We aren't just Greek or Roman campers on this ship; we're _both! _I say we blockade the Argos at the borders of Camp Half Blood by Thalia's tree and have everyone stand out on deck. Each side can't fight us if we're all together. Not without risking hurting someone they want back alive."

"That hasn't stopped them before," Jason reminded. "Dakota was just as inclined to take my head off back at Atlanta like I were Percy Jackson," Jason glanced over at Percy. "Sorry man."

"I'm cool with it," Percy returned.

"I think what Jason means," Piper cut in. "Is that both camps won't _care_ if we all hold hands and sing '_Give Peace a Chance'_ on deck; they both have too many reasons to hate each other."

"That's why _we_ have to stand up to them Pipes." Leo said. He felt like he was climbing off from hanging upside down from a jungle gym walking towards a sandbox. "I'm not saying we just sit there and throw daisies chains and do the light bulb wave. We fight if we have too; but we let them see all of us together, let them see Percy and Annabeth, what they had to go through, what we _all _had to go through to defeat Gaea. We stay untied. We _make_ them stop."

Leo stopped himself. He looked at them all nervously like he was giving a speech in front of his freshman English class. He looked the most expectantly at Percy and Annabeth. He hoped he hadn't overstepped with his remark about displaying them to the world like a cautionary visual aide about the horrors of coming out the other side of Tartarus. But he wanted both sides to remember what they were supposed to be fighting – and it wasn't each other.

Hazel bit her lip in that way Leo came to learn she did when she was thinking on something. "It sounds crazy, like _really, really_ crazy. But – it just might work."

Frank nodded in agreement. So did Nico. Hedge made a noise that sounded like affirmation from behind a mouthful of tin can.

Leo felt a little of the weight from his '_crazy plan'_ scale tip his way. He dared a glance over at Annabeth. Out of all of them, he was the most nervous about her opinion of his plan – because of her whole scary '_kill you in your sleep faster than blinking if you make her mad'_ personality.

"It _is_ a crazy plan," Annabeth agreed with Hazel's observation. She fingered at the bandages around her left elbow, lost in thought for a moment, like she was remembering where she got them. "But sometimes crazy works."

"I haven't seen Camp in almost a year." Percy raised his right hand, all wrapped in bandages like a deformed mitten, and set it on Annabeth's wrist. "I'm up for crazy."

Annabeth curled her fingers around Percy's bandages.

"Me too," Jason agreed. "Crazy helped me find my sister, and all of you. So I'm in."

A grin crept up on Leo's face. There was only one person left. "My Lady, most amazing, totally _not _airheaded Aphrodite head counselor?"

Piper shook her head at him. But she still wound up smiling. "Bring on the crazy Valdez."

"Awesome!" Leo rubbed his hands together. "Let's blockade this bizatch."


	17. Nico 9

**xxxxXxxx**

**NICO**

Nico remembered the first time Percy had brought him to Camp Half Blood. He had been 12-years-old, riding in Apollo's sun chariot with Thalia at the wheel (Scary, but still totally awesome, especially the crash landing into the canoe lake part). Bianca had been with him too; by that time already a Hunter of Artemis.

He was 15 now, (minus the years from the whole Lotus Casino incident) The same age Percy had been then when they had first met. Which made that whole 'dewy eyed' hero worship of Percy memory a bit embarrassing now. But, remembering it did have its benefits. Percy was an incredible tour guide, showing him the strawberry fields, the Big House, the Pegasus stables, the lava rock wall.

It all seemed so amazing, and _huge_ back then. As many times as Nico had gone back and forth between Camp Jupiter and Long Island since; Camp Half Blood still felt like home.

Which was why Nico currently clutched the sail ropes of the Argos as the ship flew closer and closer to Half Blood's Misted Long Island location. Leo had set the ship to Air Mode an hour ago so they could reach the camp border. Since the Argos was originally _built_ in Camp Half Blood, Leo said that they should be able to straddle the border at the entrance to Camp Half Blood without being blown up, or blowing the Camp up. Nico didn't know how much that bit of information actually reassured him.

The memory of closing up Gaea in Greece was still as strong as if it just happened. Nico hadn't been able to physically _go_ to Hades. His powers had still been too weak. Plus the areas in Greece that had openings to the Underworld were being overrun with Tartartus monsters. Instead, he had gone down in the engine room, and had put himself into a kind of trance. This allowed his spirit to float down to Hades and communicate with all the dead souls in the Underworld.

He had searched all of them, Elysium, The Fields of Asphodel, even the Fields of Punishment, looking for someone to help them. Many of the ghosts shouted at him, called him terrible things when he explained to them what he wanted them to do. He'd almost given up, when he came to three Judges of the Underworld. The line in Hades had been particularly long that day, snaking all the way back to the River Styx. Amidst crying children, ashen faced soldiers, and sneaky looking politicians. Nico saw a familiar face.

Luke Castilian' stood in line behind a woman who had been a pick pocket in life. She was waved through to the Fields of Asphodel with a scream of indignation about it being a 'misdemeanor crime'. Nico watched as the Son of Hermes moved up in front of the Judges.

He heard Luke as he asked for his first reincarnation. Apparently, he had angered Aecus and Minos when he first arrived because of the War so they sent him to Asphodel without hearing him out. Luke wanted to try for life and noble death three times so he could land a spot on the Isle of Blest – the Island for Eternal Heroes. He had finally secured an second audience with them, and the judges scratched their beards, like they were listening to a vacuum cleaner sales pitch.

Nico intercepted him Luke mid sentence. Minos scowled and threatened to call Hades for punishment and eternal grounding. But Nico ignored him.

Seeing Luke, the kid who had taken on the form of Kronos, had almost killed them all once – it was a strange sensation. But what was even stranger, was seeing Luke's ghost reaction to him being there. It was part bafflement, part confusion, and part wanting to ask how everyone was all at once.

By then Nico felt his connection starting to wane. He quickly told Luke what he was trying to do. Luke didn't hesitate to agree, and said he would find a way to reach the other ghosts. It was unallowable for ghosts to intermingle outside of their zoned areas. But Luke looked like he knew of ways to break those kinds of rules.

Nico had warned Luke that he wouldn't be able to come back, not to Elysium, not anywhere in Hades. If he sealed the Doors of Death with himself inside Tartarus, it was a one way ticket. There was no escaping.

Luke had still agreed and Nico's last impression of Hades before his connection broke was of the Son of Hermes running past the three Judges before they had made a decision on his fate. And of Minos's angry yelled for him to get back there.

Nico's thoughts drifted to Bianca. He knew he wouldn't be able to find her in the Underworld; he had tried too many times already. She had chosen reincarnation, and was now living in another form. But he still couldn't help the faint amount of hope after he saw the ghost of Zoe Nightshade return. Her essence had been transformed into stardust by Artemis when she died. And Nico thought if _she_ could return- then why not Bianca?

But then he saw the face of his mom in the volcano, wearing the same clothes she had died in. He barely remembered her, Bianca had raised him more than she had. But he did remember her voice, soothing him to sleep with a lullaby when a thunderstorm blew fiercely outside his bedroom window. He heard her shout out his name in the House of Hades, saw her fight off skeletons with a black beaded clutch and her bare hands. And then she was gone behind the doors. He hadn't had time to say 'goodbye', or even 'hello'.

The lyrics of the lullaby his mother had sung that night echoed in his ears. _Dumbo_ had just come out the year before in the movies.

"_Little one, when you play. Pay no heed what they say. Let your eyes sparkle and shine. Never to tear, baby of mine."_

Nico turned and saw that Hazel had come up beside him.

He closed his mouth, he hadn't realized he'd been singing out loud. He rubbed at his eyes like they itched. "We're almost there, I can feel it."

Hazel placed a hand on his arm. The wind blew her honey colored curls back from her face. She was no Bianca; and he now realized that he would never want her to be.

Below the Argos, checkerboard like patterns of suburbs whizzed past them. After a few minutes, the houses and trees ended, and the dark blue water of Long Island Sound took its place.

The sound of metal clicked on the deck. Annabeth limped towards the railing on her crutches. Percy only inches behind her.

The water lasted for only a few more seconds before it gave way to land heavily covered by evergreens.

Jason and Piper came over and stood beside him.

The borders of Camp Half Blood came into view. The trees melted into the strawberry fields, the beach of the Canoe Lake, the dock with a canoe tied to its post. The Big House was a large white dot in the center. The Rotunda with the pavilion and tables around Heistas Camp Fire came gray after that.

Frank came up behind Nico; and he and Hazel stared at the sprawling landscape of Camp Half Blood in amazement.

"Wow," Frank said.

Percy leant over the railing. He stared with wide eyes at the camp like Nico had done all those years ago. "We're home." He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. He gripped Annabeth's hand tightly.

The northern border of the Camp was in sight, marked by Thalia's Tree, a enormously tall Emerald Pine. As they drew closer to it, Nico could see a swarm of purple ringing the enchanted borders on one side, and a swarm of orange on the other side. Camp Jupiter Legions banged the air around the tree, hitting the enchanted barrier with Roman Calvary Swords, and spears. Nico watched as Reyna's black Pegasus Scipio butted at the air from above with his hooves. Scipio alternated between trying break the barrier with his feet and trying to bite the Golden Fleece down from where it sat in a branch in the tree. The Dragon Pellus who guarded the tree, snapped and blew fire, and Reyna drew Scipio back, but not by much. Reyna notched a bow and took aim at the dragon.

Pellus pulled in a deep breath, ready blast Reyna full on in the face.

"_No! Reyna stop!"_ Percy leant so far over the railing he half hung out of the air.

Reyna turned in surprise and saw the Argos looming right over her head. Her arrow released from the bow. It shot high into the top canopy of the trees.

Octavian stood in full Roman Calvary armor at the base of Thalia's Tree. When he saw Percy; his eyes grew murderous through the narrowed slits of his helmet. He drew his own arrow and shot it right at the Argos, aiming right for Percy.

Percy ducked from the arrow. But he ducked _forward,_ gutting himself in his wounded side. He curled in a gasp; losing his balance and tumbled over the edge of the ship in a free fall.

"_Percy!"_ Annabeth screamed.

The orange shirt clad members of Camp Half Blood members looked up into the sky at Annabeth's voice. Some of them screamed when they saw Percy fall.

A loud banging sound came from below the deck . Nico looked down over the railing and saw something black drop from the bottom of the ship. Blackjack had busted through the glass bomber doors. The Pegasus unfolded his wings and took off in a dive after Percy.

Blackjack managed to dive under Percy; Percy snagged a hand in Blackjack's mane half way to the ground and grabbed the Pegasus neck. He pulled himself up on Blackjack's back as more of Octavian's arrows flew past him.

"No! _Stop!"_ Annabeth screamed again.

Blackjack flew and zigzagged through the air like a fighter jet, dodging the arrows. He crossed the borders into Camp Half Blood with Percy just as Nico heard:

"_Fire on the Ship!"_

There was a whistling sound as the Legions from Camp Jupiter launched an assault of spears and arrows at them.

"Get down!" Jason shouted.

They all hit the deck. Jason dove to the controls and yanked Leo off the platform at the same time Nico grabbed Annabeth's shoulders and slammed her down to the deck because she was still yelling for Percy.

A volley of arrows and heavy looking spears sailed over them like storm.

Coach Hedge rolled like a furry ball, almost smacking Jason in the face.

"Nico, let me go!" Annabeth screamed right in his ear. She beat on him with her bandaged arms.

"Percy's okay!-" Nico held firm to her waist, but Annabeth was still putting up a Hades of a fight, even wounded.

"I have to find him!" Her gray eyes were frantic.

"We need to get the ship to the border!" Nico shouted to her, ducking a direct hit from her fist that would've broken his nose.

Leo was ducked down beside Piper and Frank next to Festus controls. He had his arms drawn up over his head. He lowered them and shouted at the dragon head: "_Festus! Execute 'It's On Like Donkey Kong!"_

Festus clicked and squeaked like he understood that crazy talk. The lights of the controls panel lit up in a row of bright red. The altitude meter rotated upside down and ship dove into a 45 degree angle at a rapid speed. Festus's head roared with glowing red eyes and blew out a powerful blast of fire. The Legions of Camp Jupiter pushed back with a cry. Pellus stopped trying to eat Scipio for a moment and stared at Festus in shock.

The Argos righted itself 50 feet from the ground then dropped at a dizzying speed straight down. It slammed into the ground, and slammed Nico into Annabeth. The ship sat half in the border of Camp Half Blood and half out.

Nico could see waves in the invisible barrier; like it couldn't take the pressure of the ship being stuck in it. He yelled over to Leo: "Whatever we're doing, we have to do it fast!"

Annabeth finally managed to elbow Nico in the nose. He cried out and she yanked out of his grasp.

She scrambled out over him and jumped over the railing on the side of the ship that was in the borders Camp Half Blood.

"Annabeth!" Nico screamed. He had no idea how she planned to _safely_ jump down from a 500 foot tall warship with a broken ankle.

"Catch _that_ fast first!"Leo yelled.

Jason dove over the edge of the ship and grabbed Annabeth's arm. By that time she was almost to the ground, and he only managed to just get out of her way as she dropped into an expert roll in the dry pine needles of the ground.

Nico threw the rope ladder over the side and climbed down, jumping the last foot to the ground. Hedge tumbled after him calling: "To arms!" He took off in a galloping run towards the Big House before anyone could stop him.

"Percy!" Annabeth yanked out of Jason's hold to help her up and screamed her boyfriend's name.

A cluster of orange t-shirts parted. Percy had been enveloped in a group of Camp Half Blood campers in full Greek War armor who looked like they were trying to hug him to death.

"Annabeth!" Percy ran over to her like it was a reflex. He grabbed her head. "Are you okay?"

Annabeth threw her arms around him. "Don't do that again!"

Behind Percy was Clarisse De Rue in her blood red armor. Her sword was drawn, half of her cabin behind her.

"Annabeth, Holy Ares!" Clarisse yanked Annabeth into a bone crushing hug that nearly made Annabeth scream in pain ."You're _alive!"_

Both girls jerked a moment later as a barrage of Roman arrows flew into barrier. It sounded like fire crackers exploding against a brick wall. One of the arrows looked dangerously close to piercing the boundary. The Argos seemed to be weakening the border.

Clarisse glared at the giant ship: "Get that thing out of the way before those Roman's kill us!"

"Clarisse, no, you have to listen!" Nico shouted above all the noise of the Camp Jupiter soldiers on the other side of Thalia's tree. Some of them were right up by the border, pounding on the barrier with bare fists. "We, Leo, we _have _ a plan!"

"Yeah, well I have a plan too!" Clarrise shouted. "It's called _not dying! _Move that ship, or my cabin makes it move!"

Behind Clarisse a dozen Ares campers stood poised with flaming arrows.

"No way! You are _not_ setting fire to the ship!" Leo shouted down to Clarisse. "You know how _long_ this took to build?"

"Valdez!" Clarisse yelled up at him; pointing at the Argos with her electric spear. "Get out of the way!"

"Maybe later!" Leo yelled back down disappearing back towards the center of the ship. "Kinda busy with a crazy plan at the moment!"

Clarisse yelled in frustration.

"Annabeth!" Thalia ran head long from the direction of the Big House, her Aegean shield out. The snake head of Medusa shocked a wave of terror through Nico like the real Medusa was staring at him. Campers split apart to make room from that terrible image like Moses parting the Red Sea.

The aura of Artemis glowed around Thalia. She dropped both her shield and her celestial bronze sword and hugged Annabeth fiercely. "No one knew if you all-" She trailed off and grabbed for Jason next, Jason hugged her back just as hard as she was hugging him."-if you would come back al-" Thalia stopped talking, and gaped when she saw Percy standing there.

"Percy! Oh my Gods, _Percy!"_ Thalia slammed into him like a train. Percy almost fell over backwards. "Where in _Hades_ have you been?!_-"_

"Long story, tell you all about it later," Percy sounded winded, but also like he was okay with it."We never did get our burgers and fries after the _last _war; so rain check?"

Thalia shot Percy a look like she wanted to beat him over the head with her shield but didn't have time too.

Connor Stoll jogged up to them, his helmet on askew, his armor covered in some kind of purple ooze. "Hey Percy!" Connor smacked him in the shoulder. "Heard you were alive; that's so awesome!" Connor eyed Percy up and down. "You look like crap, dude."

"So I've been told," Percy had to yell the last bit as something heavy rammed into the ship. Nico turned and saw the Camp Jupiter war elephant smack its full weight into the barrier.

"Who fights with _elephants?"_ Clarisse yelled.

"That's so awesome!" Conner watched the elephant back up at a command from Octavian and charge again at full elephant speed. "I mean, if it weren't trying to kill us."

The elephant rammed into the border again. The Argos shook back and forth like it was in the middle of an earthquake.

Somewhere on board the Argos Piper screamed.

Jason's head whipped up to the ship at the sound: "Piper!"

"I'm okay!" Piper peaked over the railing; a hand held to a bleeding gash on her head. "Just _hurry_ up already!"

They were in the middle of preventing two rivaling demigod camps from destroying each other in a blood bath. But Thalia still found time to bit her lip and cast an amused look at Jason: "So. I see you and Piper worked out."

Nico actually saw Jason blush a bit at the amused look of his older sister. "Can we do this later sis?" Jason turned to Nico, Percy and Annabeth."We need to get back on board!"

"What are you talking about?!" Clarisse shrieked like Jason had just asked them to slow dance with Kronos. "You're safe inside the barrier! Or you will be once _this big dumb flying obstacle gets out of the way!"_ Clarisse called the last part up to Leo.

"Can't hear you above the roar of the Roman war elephant!" Leo yelled back.

"Clarisse, we have a plan!" Percy told her.

Nico knew that Clarisse De Rue and Percy Jackson didn't have the best history. They instead had a history of getting under each other's skin, with swords and arrows. And that history played out in the glare Clarisse was currently shooting the Son of the Sea God.

"We need a diversion," Percy looked over at Conner for this. "You have anything good?"

"We talking lethal, or just maiming?" Conner returned.

"Just something to distract the Roman Legions long enough so we can get back on the ship."

Nico watched as Connor smiled like he'd been given the master key to a Masserati lot. "I got just the thing."

Clarisse stepped in between Percy and Conner, getting right up in Percy's face. "Did Gaea drop you on your head or something Percy?!" She pointed at the barrier with her spear. Roman arrows winged off the barrier, getting closer and closer to breaking through. "_They're attacking us!_"

"We have to end this Clarisse!" Percy yelled at her, even though she was only about 6 millimeters from his nose. "If we don't, we all wind up dead!" He turned to Connor Stoll. "Connor, whatever it is, I'm in."

"Sweet!" Connor grinned and fist pumped the air. "I need to borrow Blackjack."

Blackjack snorted and backed away like Connor was diseased.

Percy gave a nod to Blackjack. The Pegasus backed away further, pawing at the ground and snorting.

"I promise a whole box of doughnuts that he won't blow you up." Percy said to Blackjack. He nodded sideways at Conner.

Blackjack snorted what sounded like an exasperated sigh. He clip clopped to where the Son of Hermes stood.

"Just give me _five_ minutes Percy," Connor said. "Travis and I already got it rigged. It was suppose to be a wakeup up surprise for Drew; but I'm willing to make sacrifices." Conner patted Blackjack on his nose. "You're not allergic to shellfish are you?"

Blackjack snorted and cast a disparaging look over at Percy before he followed Conner towards Camp.

"Come on!" Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand and helped her limp over to the rope ladder that was still dangling over the edge of the Argos.

"Whatever you're doing I'm coming too!" Thalia proclaimed. She picked up her shield slammed it against Jason's chest. Jason gave an '_omph' _

Thalia snatched up her sword from the ground, and ran to catch up to Percy and Annabeth, slinging Annabeth's other arm up over her shoulder.

Jason shouldered the heavy bronze shield and ran to catch up with them. Nico ran after Jason.

"Jackson! Chase!" Clarisse yelled, slamming her electric spear into the ground; sparks shot out and rained on the ground, enveloping the grass in small fires. "Grace-_es!_ You can't do this!"

"We're not trying to _do_ anything!" Annabeth stood poised with her hands on the first wooden rung of the ladder, gray eyes on the Daughter of Ares. "We're trying to _stop_ it, Clarisse!"

Nico was at the base of the ladder beside Percy and Jason. They all stood waiting for the sound of Conner's diversion. Nico had no idea what it would sound like. But a moment later a thunder of hooves came from by the canoe lake. Nico stared as a group of Pegasus, led by Blackjack took flight over the trees."I think that's our cue guys."

"Go!" Percy hoisted Annabeth up higher on the ladder, keeping a hand on her waist as she climbed. Nico had no idea how Percy was doing _that_ and climbing up a ladder by essentially gripping it in the bend of his elbow on the arm with the broken hand. Or how Jason was managing the climb with a shield that weighed as much as a small dog.

But there wasn't a lot of time for thinking, and Nico climbed higher. The flat of Thalia's sword blade jammed into back of his neck.

Blackjack and the other Pegasus from camp sailed over their heads. Each Pegasus had metal buckets attached to their sides. They flew past the barrier and the Pegasus hovered by the branches of Thalia's Pine Tree.

Piper and Frank were at the rail, helping Annabeth and Percy back over the side. Nico jumped over the rail next. Piper reached for Jason's hand as Thalia came up after him.

Connor and Travis Stoll _rode_ on Blackjack, The flew past the protected barrier with the other Pegasus, Reyna pelting them with arrows from above on Scipio. Once they past the barrier they had to dodge a hail of arrows being aimed at them from Octavian and all of the five Camp Jupiter Legions. When Reyna's arrows ran out, she hefted a gleaming Imperial Gold Spata dangerously close to Connor's head.

Nico heard Travis curse.

"You _better_ be right about this Percy!" Travis yelled. He glared at Reyna. "Hey gorgeous. Ask me if something smells funny in here."

"What in the name of Bellona is _wrong_ with you Graceus!?" Reyna looked at Conner like he was insane just as Conner called out:

"_Now!"_

All the Pegasus pulled on ropes that hung on their necks with their teeth. The buckets tipped over and a huge mess of silver anchovies and dark red crawfish dumped onto the Camp Jupiter Legions below. Blackjack spat a mouthful of crawfish right at Reyna's face.

She made a noise of disgust, but then it turned into a scream as the crawfish attached themselves to her nose with tiny pinchers.

Below the Camp Jupiter Legions started to cry out crawfish began grabbing at noses and ears, and silver anchovies wormed their way up nostrils, down armored plates and inside crevices.

"Little something left over from Seafood Thursday!" Connor blew Reyna a kiss.

Reyna cursed hard in Ancient Roman. The crawfish on her nose dug a pincher deep into her nostril and her cry became a snorted scream.

"Man I missed those guys," Leo said watching Reyna trying to reel in Scipio who was circling the air like a jet going down with a flaming wing.

Hazel stared at the scene of her Praetor being attacked by mini lobsters."That's Louisiana's official state crustacean!" She sounded very offended.

"I can get you a bucket," Leo offered. "For you know, spoils of war."

"Enough joking around Leo!" Piper had to yell from the sound of the elephant taking another run at the barrier. This time it sounded a million plate glass mirrors breaking all at once.

Thalia stared down at the elephant's lumbering body as it backed up and slammed its body into the barrier again."That _elephant_-"

"His name's Hannibal," Frank offered.

Thalia looked at him like '_what?'_

"I used to feed him," Frank answered her question.

Thalia just shook her head at Frank like she didn't know what to make of him."Well _Hannibal's_ about to break into Camp Half Blood! Whatever the plan is guys; I suggest _starting _it!"

Percy grabbed Annabeth and ducked, and arrow narrowly missing both their heads. He was standing right beside Nico. He came back up standing with Annabeth's hand gripped tightly in his.

"Take my hand!" Percy shouted at him.

Nico stared at him like he had misheard. More arrows flew at them. One of them finally managed to pierce the border and sailed right at Percy's head.

The Legions of Camp Jupiter were wearing helmets but Nico still saw the recognition as it came to their faces – the border of Camp Half Blood was down.

Percy screamed: "_Now!"_ He didn't wait for a response and grabbed Nico's hand with his bandaged one, jerking on his arm so hard that it almost knocked him over.

"Keep it going!" Percy called over Nico's head.

Hazel stood beside Nico and she took his hand without question. Her fingers were sweaty, but warm, strong. Hazel grabbed Frank's hand.

Leo was on the other side of Frank and he smirked like it _would _ be Frank's hand he was stuck holding. But he still slapped it in Frank's a moment later.

Blackjack hovered above the Argos. "What in Hades are you doing Percy?!" Travis called down to him.

"Get out of here guys," Percy said. "We got this."

"Uh let me think on that, _no!"_ Travis stared at Percy like he was crazy.

"I mean it!" Percy shouted, sounding like the wild guy Nico had met all those years ago. Except older, more in control.

The Stoll's still eyed him like he was crazy. "Chiron's with the Hunters in the forest, we're getting him-" Blackjack swept both boys back inside the crumbled barrier mid sentence and their cries of objections trailed behind them.

Jason grabbed Piper's hand in one of his, and Thalia's in the other. Thalia linked hand's with Annabeth.

"So, what's our opening number?" Funnily enough, it was _Piper_ who made the joke.

Leo smirked a laugh at her, even as an arrow flew past him. Octavian shouted in anger at his miss. "If this doesn't go, well _our way_, I gotta say it's been a real pleasure, Beauty Queen."

Piper smiled at Leo like she hadn't heard him say that in a long time. "You too," she glanced up at them all standing there. "All of you."

Nico had barely known Piper for a week, but the way she looked at him, he felt like that bond penetrate much deeper than seven days.

Leo snaked their little line of demigods around on the deck and took Jason's hand, and he didn't even make a joke about it.

They all stood in the center of the Argos in a circle, back to back, to back.

Percy opened his mouth to speak.

That's when the sword flew at him.


	18. Hazel 9

**xxxxXxxxx**

**HAZEL**

Octavian was never into the whole patience thing.

Back when Hazel had first come to Camp Jupiter, the Arguer had brought her before the Roman Council, slashing teddy bears left and right to determine what Legion she should be in. The stuffing from the first teddy bear didn't even have time to drift to the ground before Octavian determined Hazel to be 'ill suited, and small' and shoved her in the Fifth Legion.

So when Percy opened his mouth, the words didn't even have time to form before Octavian grabbed the first Calvary Sword a Legion soldier had dropped on the ground, and hurled it at Percy's face.

Percy ducked the sword, swinging all of them sideways. Hazel zigzagged at a tilt, slamming into him.

She heard him groan and grit his teeth. Beside him, Annabeth looked livid. The older girl cursed. Hazel didn't speak Ancient Greek, but it sounded like it had a very liberal use of a certain 'F' word.

"Throw _one_ _more_ thing at my boyfriend's head Octavian, and I swear by _all _our Gods!-"

"Do not talk to me like that you Graceus piece of trash!" Octavian snarled at her.

"No, no, no!-" Jason shot forward to yank Percy back in the circle when he jumped at Octavian's use of the word: _trash._ "Percy, stand down man! He's trying to goad you; it's not worth it-"

"Jason Grace, you a filthy traitor!" Octavian yelled. He grabbed another sword from a Camp Jupiter Legionnaire, and hurling it like he was throwing a rock. It clattered to the deck, narrowly missing Coach Hedge's bare hooves.

Hedge bleated and jumped up in sheer anger. He ran to the edge of the railing and yelled: "Try that again cupcake and I'll squash you like a tin can!"

This time an _actual_ rock, coated in Imperial Gold, came hurling over the bow of the ship. Hedge ducked down into a furry roll just as the rock tore a hole through the railing.

Leo swore. "That's _my_ ship! Okay, I'm all for ending this war and declaring peace with my fellow demigods in California. But I'm officially going on record now and saying I _don't_ like Octavian!"

"Nobody likes Octavian," Hazel returned. Over the gaping crater Octavian had just created in the ship's railing she saw as the skinny blonde pulled a crawfish from his hair with more hot headed anger than anyone should have when they were picking a dead crustacean off of their head.

"Reyna, the time to attack is _now!"_ Octavian pointed a spear at the Argos; also stolen from another Legionnaire. The Romans started to glare at Octavian like he was a clepto. "The border is weak, we must strike these scum hard!"

To Hazel's horror, Reyna shot a murderous eye at the Argos. She flew down and grabbed the spear from Octavian and raised it high in the air._"Legionaries! To war!"_

Scipio shot forward like a bullet.

The Camp Jupiter soldiers quickly forgot about their red noses and slimy underpants. They grabbed up their weapons and shields and ran head long at the ship with a thundering battle cry.

"Defend the borders!" Clarisse's voice shouted from the other side, and another war cry rose up from Camp Half Blood. The ship began to rock as campers from _both_ sides began to climb it.

"We have to do something!" Hazel screamed. "We have to do something _now!" _A celestial bronze ax flew over her head, it missed but sailed down over the ship, and there was a distinct crack of marble below.

"No!" Annabeth screamed like something had cut her arm off. "The statue, they're going to destroy it!"

"Percy!" Thalia yelled. "Your Hurricane- You up for doing another one?"

_Hurricane?_ Hazel could only gape at what Thalia said, and watched Percy look at her like she was a crazy genius.

"You and me _together_ this time Pinecone Face!"

Before Hazel could ask what Percy was talking about, he and Thalia both slammed their eyes shut. A rumble that sounded like the glacier's splitting apart in Alaska tore apart the air. "Hold on!" Percy yelled, he grabbed for Annabeth.

An enormous wave of water from the lake came hurtling towards them like a rocket. The sky was suddenly electric with lightning, a rapid wind began to pick up, almost blowing Hazel clean out of her shoes. She grappled for purchase on something and found Nico's arm. Nico clung tightly to the mast head.

Thalia stood in the middle of the storm, arms outstretched, like she was _summoning _ the hot bolts towards her. Jason had his sword raised and was mimicking her.

Cries began to erupt from both sides as both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half Blood campers were blown back from the force of the pelting wind.

Roman Legions still managed to clear the railing. One stared hatefully at them all. A heavy helmet covered his face. But Hazel still thought she recognized Thanna, a member of the Fifth Cohort. A skinny girl with a mass of bright red curls.

"Thanna!" Hazel's suspicion was confirmed when the girl raised her covered eyes to her. "Don't do this!"

Thanna didn't listen. She raised her sword with an almost guttural war cry.

Annabeth slashed at Thanna with her dagger sending her ducking down, back against the deck. The wind blew her over the railing and she fell over the ship.

Hazel's cry of "no!" was swallowed by the wind.

Orange t-shirts in celestial bronze armor climbed up the other side of the ship. Different styles of armor were intermixed among the campers; but they all wore the same color t-shirt underneath. Hazel heard the clash of swords, and screams of wounded demigods.

Things happened in a rapid fire blur.

A sudden wall of fire erupted and Hazel heard the cry of a Calvary eagle as its tail feathers caught fire from Leo's hands as it tried to fly over the border but was quickly doused out by the rain. Leo looked mortified at what he had done.

The storm began to slow down. Percy's face looked almost bone white, and dripped sweat. Hazel had no idea how long he could keep this going. Annabeth fought like a demon, slashing left and right with her knife at Octavian who was now on deck, spitting rain water out of his face and matching her blow for blow, backing up towards the head of the ship.

Frank sparred with a member of Camp Half Blood who looked no older than 12, a skinny thing with knobby joints under what looked like five pounds of armor. The kid gripped a heavy looking sword in shaking hands, and slashed Frank in the cheek. Frank reeled, blood dripped down his face. He butted the kid in the chest with the flat of his sword and the Camper fell on his back like an overturned turtle.

Thalia and Jason kept up the lightning, but without Percy's full strength water powers the hurricane started to fade out, and both didn't look like they wanted to electrocute anyone. Piper was on the Camp Half Blood side battling with a girl with long looking hair extensions yelling things like: "Drew, stop it, hair extensions are a stupid weapon to fight with!" Her dagger, Kataporis was out, but Piper seemed reluctant to use it against her own campers.

A girl built like a rugby player, in blood red armor dove up over the other side. Her helmet had been knocked off her head, or she hadn't chosen to fight with one. Long auburn hair was plastered to her head like braided ropes. Her sword was the color of rust.

Reyna sailed over the ship, Hazel could almost _see_ where Scipio was forced to stop from the barrier that was still managing to protect Half Blood Hill. Reyna had abandoned the spear and drew her bow, launching a red tipped arrow at the Camp Half Blood girl's red armor.

Red Tipped arrows were gifts of Mars. Each tip was a combustible flame that ignited the moment it hit something solid.

The girl dove over the intended arrow assault aimed at her neck. The arrow zinged into the border, bounced off it and landed in the grass and sparked into flames. Thankfully, the ground was too saturated from the storm Percy, Thalia, and Jason had created, and the flames soon smoldered out.

The girl turned and spotted Hazel with her Roman Calvary sword, and in an instant, she whipped out a rust red knife and was on Hazel, fighting. Hazel backed to the railing, sparring, ducking down beside it. Something fell out of the pocket of her jeans. She felt it bumping around her armor. Before she could comprehend what it was it fell and dropped to the ground, a roll of cloth with a piece of fire wood.

"No!" Hazel tried to reach for it, but had to jump sideways a moment later to avoid a direct hit to the face.

"Hazel!"

"Frank!" Hazel waved Frank back, pointing at the piece of cloth, only caring about one thing. "Get it, GET IT!"

She didn't have time to see if Frank had picked up the wood before she was knocked to the ground. The girl in the blood red armor stared at her with glowering dark brown eyes.

"Clarisse! Don't!" Percy dive bombed the girl.

'Clarisse' and Percy were flung sideways. Her knife clattering to the deck, spinning like a top.

"Get off of me Jackson!" Clarisse bucked like an angry bronco, throwing Percy off of her. He rolled on the deck, landing on his back with a painful groan.

"Percy!" Hazel clamored up and grabbed his arm, pulling him back up.

Clarisse glared at Hazel like she wanted to eat her. Percy yanked Hazel back by the arm until she was behind him.

"Get out of way Jackson!" Clarisse roared. "She's mine!"

"What are you doing Clarisse?" The rain had lessened to a misted drizzle, Percy's grip on Hazel's arm was tight."What are we _all _doing?!" Percy shouted the last part so that it sounded like a thunder clap.

"I'm protecting the Camp, Percy!" Clarisse spat like her answer was an obvious one as asking why she needed to breathe. "How about you?" she looked at him almost like he was a traitor to his kind.

"I'm protecting my _friends_!" Percy spat back. "_All_ my of them, including you!" Percy stared at Clarisse, his green eyes burned like Greek Fire. "Gaea is _gone_ Clarisse! You don't have to do this!"

Hazel felt the wood beneath her feet splinter apart. She looked down and saw that the wood where she was standing was bone dry, charred black in some places, and starting to crumble. Thalia's and Jason's lightning had created super heated air that zapped the wood dry like a hair dryer. There were other such dry patches doted around the boat like spots on a Dalmatian.

A cry snapped Hazel's head up. Octavian was at bow of the ship with Annabeth. He was holding to his hand, blood leaking out of it. He slapped Annabeth so hard across the face Hazel heard her neck pop."You will pay for that Greek sl-"

"Hey!" Clarisse grabbed her knife from where it fell on the deck. "Back off her you Roman piece of _schist_!

Octavian's death glare on Clarisse was cut off when Annabeth hit him with what looked like a dead right cross to his nose and head butted him like Hazel had seen Percy do.

Octavian fell flat on the ship's deck on his back.

From across the ship, Percy looked completely impressed. "Gods, I love that girl." Percy turned back to Clarisse. "Call them off Clarisse, they'll listen to you! I'm tired of losing friends, aren't you?"

Clarisse looked like she was dead tired, aching to just put down her weapons and go home. But like she had been sworn to something greater that she didn't even know if she wanted.

A shadow fell across Percy's face.

Hazel turned and saw Octavian back on his feet, an red arrow notched in a wounded Ares Camper bow aimed dead at Clarisse's neck. "Graceus demons!"

"Clarisse, watch out!" Percy shouted.

Clarisse turned with the '_whizz'_ sound of the arrow. The shot was too fast, she had no time to duck.

A golden hawk shot out of the sky like a cannon ball. It dived headlong at the arrow, snatching it in a razor sharp beak.

There was a 'pop' and the bird's bright yellow plumage began to smoke.

"_Frank!" _

Hazel's scream whipped Percy's head over to the bird that cawed a dying cry, it's feathers engulfed in hot orange flame.

Percy raised hand towards Camp Half Blood and shot a hail of water so strong that it swept the campers, both Half Blood and Jupiter into a torrent, knocking them over mid fight.

When the water receded, everything was soaking wet. Campers sat dazed, coughing. Annabeth's hair was wrapped around Percy's neck, and Percy's arms were wrapped around her shoulders. Nico was at her feet looking like a bull ran him over. Piper and Jason were flat on the deck, gagging out water. Leo was hanging upside down from the railing by his pants.

And Frank Zhang lay next to Clarisse in a heap on the deck, an arrow stuck in his arm, his clothes smoking and burned almost clean off.

"Frank!" Hazel climbed to her feet and ran over to him.

Percy ran up behind her, Leo and Piper right behind him.

Clarisse, stared in shock at the Roman kid in burned clothes who had taken place of the bird that had grabbed the arrow out of the sky moments before it hit her.

"Frank!" Hazel yanked the arrow out of his arm, and shook it. He didn't move.

Pieces of burned cloth lay scattered around Frank like the remains of a Mardi Gras confetti, next to tiny pieces of black ash and soot.

Hazel's eyes went wide. "Frank?-_"_ Hazel shook his arm harder. Frank's head rolled lifelessly on the ground.

Hazel grappled a hand over the deck and snatched at a burned chunk of cloth. It rolled open in her hand and scattered a wave of black soot and ash in the wind.

"No-"She grabbed another fragment, it crumbled to ash in her grip, staining her fingertips in soot.

"_No such thing as fair. If I'm going to burn, it might as well be bright."_

"No-!" Hazel shook her head hard so fast it made her dizzy.

Tears slid down Annabeth's face.

Piper's hand flew to her mouth. Leo was shaking his head like he thought he was dreaming. Nico gripped the masthead, dropping to his knees. Jason's sword dropped out of his hand.

Percy stared in utter disbelief.

Hazel grabbed handfuls of Frank's tattered shirt. "No!-" Tears burned down her skin. "You're not supposed to be dead – I am-_Frank-!_" Her scream deafened her ears. She beat hard on the wood of the deck, falling on Frank, and sobbed.

They _won,_ it wasn't supposed to end like this.

The sounds of swords clashing on both sides had ceased. But Hazel barely noticed. All she noticed was the boy she was holding, that smelled of soot and ash.

Reyna pushed her way through the small group of Demigods around Frank. No one stopped her. "Frank Zhang," her voice was stunned.

Hazel didn't want to release Frank, but she turned her head up when she heard an enormous skittering noise and looked up in time to see Reyna shove Octavian so hard that he slid backwards on the wet deck boards a good foot.

"_What did you do!?"_ Reyna's scream echoed like a thunder clap.

Octavian finally managed to find his footing, staring down Reyna with a look that defied what had just happened. "He threw himself in front of that _Gracus_ Reyna!" Octavian's voice was so analytical it was almost cold. "He knew the risks!"

"He was one of us!" Reyna screamed back. Her bow was in her hand, but it hung there like a severed appendage. "You had no right-!"

"_WE'RE AT WAR!" _ Octavian's voice was shrill, manic sounding. It echoed around the air repeatedly. "_I HAVE EVERY RIGHT!"_ Flecks of spit flew out of his mouth. He stepped up to Reyna, the tip of his bow scrapped the ground. "These Gracus _filth_ tried to destroy our home; and Frank Zhang didn't do _anything_ to try and defend it! He aligned himself with the _enemy!_ He is a _traitor _ to Rome and he deserved to di-!"

The ship shook like an earthquake by Octavian's feet, knocking him flat on his back. A hole blew in the wood inches from his toes and a flood of iron ore erupted like a geyser, smacking Octavian in the face.

Hazel grabbed Clarisse's blood red dagger, lined on one side in Celestial Bronze and lunged herself at Octavian like tigress, screaming, the blade barred.

"No Hazel!" Percy caught her by the waist, inches from Octavian's stunned looking face. She screamed and kicked, and beat against Percy. She heard Percy groan, but his grip remained strong.

She stared at Octavian like she wanted to tear him apart. "You're the only one who deserves to _die!_"

"Hazel don't!" Percy was pulling her back, and she fought him every second. Thinking of Frank, of things she wanted to tell him, that she never could. "It's not going to bring him back-"

"_Hazel Levesque, do not do something that you will regret."_

The voice was coming from behind her, one that she had never heard before. It stunned her so much that she stopped struggling and turned. A woman stood behind her. She was dressed in jeans and a flowing black sweater duster with a hood that was drawn up over her head.

Percy released her, but Hazel still felt him grip her forearm tightly.

"Who _are _you?" Hazel asked.

The woman pulled the hood from her head. She was beautiful, with long, dark raven hair braided all the way down her back. A necklace with a skeleton pendant sat atop her head like a crown. Her eyes were the color of copper coins. "I'm Hecate, Goddess of Crossroads and Magic. I believe you Romans refer to me as _Trivia."_ As Hecate spoke her Roman counterpart's name, she flickered like a bad movie reel for a moment, becoming a crone looking woman in jet black robes, like Hazel had seen in _Snow White._ It lasted for only a second, before she returned to the shape of the young woman. The Goddess shook herself like she had a chill.

"Excuse my manners. I haven't been in the presence of both Greek _and_ Romans demigods in over 100 years, it's does things to my personality." Hecate grabbed at her head and rubbed her temples. And Hazel saw tiny tattoos of torches at each pulse point in her wrist.

"You're the Goddess of Ghosts-" Hazel felt her head start to pound, and her heart rate triple. She stared at Frank's lifeless body "You can't have him!" She struggled to break away from Percy again. "Take me! Take me back, I'm supposed to be _dead!_ Take _me!"_

Hecate glided over to her like mist and snatched her wrist in such a tight hold that Hazel cried out. "Calm yourself girl!" Hecate jerked Hazel's arm and she toppled forward at Percy's feet.

Hazel scrambled back up, fully prepared to fight the goddess in bare knuckled combat if she had too. Percy held fast to her arm.

"I am not here to strike a deal, nor _can_ I in your case," Hecate stared at Hazel "Thantos himself refused to take your soul back to the Underworld when you freed him in Alaska. And his orders still hold firm. I cannot go against them And I am not a romantic sap like my cousin Aphrodite, I'm not all warm and fuzzy over your teenage lost love."

Hazel jerked like she was a tiger about to spring, Percy yanked her back again.

"Then why are you here?!" Percy snapped. "You're the Goddess of Crossroads? Why didn't you come _before_ Frank jumped in front of the arrow? What good is coming when it's too late?"

"Because the boy was not at a crossroad when he made his decision," Hecate said this as calmly as if she were reading an unchanging weather report. "He knew where his path would take him. And my matter concerns something much greater than the life of a single boy-"

Hazel found herself jerked forward by Percy shoving her to get at the Goddess.

"Don't talk about Frank like he was nothing you black hooded -!"

Hecate snapped her head to Percy, a flaming hot torch appeared in her hand, one that glowed bright green with Greek Fire. "I would watch my tone Perseus Jackson! I may not be a big shot like your sea hugging daddy, but my power is far from weak!" The flame of her torch rose dangerously high. Her eyes smoldered like liquid copper. "The life of the many will _always_ outweigh the life of the few!"

"Frank was my friend!" Percy yelled. "He was _all _ of our friends!" His green eyes stared right into the Goddess' challenging her. "I'm tired of watching my friends die for 'something greater' What's the point of saving the world if everyone you care about is gone?! Don't try to be the wisdom Goddess Hecate, you suck at it!"

Hecate's torch sparked like someone had thrown kerosene in it. Sparks of Greek fire shot out at a dangerous perimeter around the boards of the boat. Octavian stood barely a few inches away from Hecate and jumped back in fear.

The Goddess looked at Percy with a hard glint in her eyes. "Because of what you have undertaken to defeat Gaea in Tartarus boy, I will overlook your insolence-"

"Gaea?-" Reyna's bow clattered to the ground like her arm couldn't hold it from the shock. "Gaea's _defeated?_ You mean-_"_

Hecate looked like she wanted to roll her eyes at Reyna's ignorance. The torch vanished from her hand with a '_pop'_ and she glided over to Frank like smoke, kneeling down next to his still form.

Hazel shot forward like an arrow, standing over Frank. "Don't touch him!"

Hecate stared at Percy a moment ago like she wanted to flay him alive for his smart mouth. But she stared at Hazel like she both amused and impressed her. "The last time I was here was 150 years ago – during the Civil War-" Hecate's voice seemed to drift into sadness. "I watched demigods turned against each other; both sides refused to believe they were wrong-"

Hecate turned her copper eyes up to Hazel. "I'm only considered a _Minor_ goddess you know dear cousin. Why do you think Olympus sent me here and not Athena to bestow her all powerful wisdom? You think she'd pull her split personalities together and be here for her own daughter-" Hecate glanced over at Annabeth, who seemed to shake under her gaze. "Everyone always underestimates the Crossroads Goddess, they say I'm not _wisdom,_ I'm just a signpost at a junction. But even Athena can only see the road ahead of her. _I_ see all of the turns the road _takes,_ where the path will lead if you go left instead of right. Those demigods fighting in that war in 1865 chose one path. They refused to see the larger picture of what happened when you turned on your own brothers. But I saw it. I watched as they amassed a casualty list that has yet to be surpassed by any war in this country to date." Hecate reached by Frank's arm and before Hazel could stop her she snatched a piece of charred cloth there.

Hazel wanted to yell at Hecate again to leave Frank alone. He had suffered enough; _more_ than enough. She had finally realized that it had _always_ been Frank that she loved and now it was too late to tell him.

But then she saw what was in the goddess' hands.

A burnt piece of a splinter, it was barely the length of a toothpick, and not much wider. "True wisdom doesn't lie in your decisions Daughter of Pluto, " Hecate held out the tiny splinter of wood to Hazel. "It lies in knowing _where_ those decisions will take you."

Hazel took the little piece of wood with trembling fingers. Soot came away from it and coated her fingertips like pepper. But the wood itself remained intact. It was so tiny, so insignificant, but it was a part of Frank's _life_.

And at that moment she realized that her decision to protect this piece of firewood had led her to become a part of Frank's life as well.

She closed her hand around the splinter; it dug hard into her palm. She pressed harder, like she wanted to bury it into her skin and make it vanish like the magicians that she used to watch at street fairs back home in New Orleans. She thought only about Frank: how he had befriended her very first day at Camp Jupiter – the odd girl who didn't even know what a cell phone was. How they had gone on their first quest together; riding on Arion with him holding to her waist; sneaking their very first kiss as they waited for Percy to come to the senate meeting.

Hazel jerked when she felt the splintered wood stab her in the hand.

She felt the wood embedded in her skin, and opened her palm to see a streak of blood that stained both her hand and the peaking of the wood sliver as red as holly berries.

On the deck of the ship Hazel saw Frank's hand began to twitch. At first it was small, but then, his arm moved. And then he issued a groan that ended in a series of dry heaves.

Hazel had never heard anything so wonderful in _both _her lifetimes. "Frank!" She grabbed at his bruised blistered skin.

Frank's eyes opened, and he blinked, and coughed, sitting up slowly.

Hot tears poured down Hazel's face. She grabbed Frank in a giant bear hug. "Thank Jupiter!"

Frank looked totally baffled, but let Hazel hug him longer. Hazel basked in it for a moment. Then when she pulled away she smacked him really hard on the back of the head.

"_Ow!"_ Frank's eyes widened in stunned confusion.

"What in _Hades_ were you thinking?!" Hazel saw Hecate raise her eyebrows at her curse.

Frank's stunned look intensified, but despite having almost _died_ and the added sight of a strange woman dressed in almost all black standing beside Hazel, he still caught onto to what she meant.

"Leo said we had to make them stop." Frank said it like that explained taking a flaming arrow in hawk form for a girl who had tried to kill his girlfriend.

"Dude, I didn't mean by _incinerating_ yourself!" Leo looked affronted, and also really, _really_ relieved that Frank's death hadn't been permanent. His hands visibly shook, and Hazel watched as he hauled Frank to his feet as a distraction.

Frank wobbled a little, but remained upright.

"Glad you're not dead," For once Leo didn't mumble his compliment to Frank.

"Me too," Frank returned. Pieces of burned jeans slid off him like flaking skin. Frank's skin went red in embarrassment, but he _omphed_ a minute later when Percy tackled him in a hug. Percy hissed like a spitting Polecat, and Frank kept trying to cover what was left of his shirt over his burned arms, but the hug still went on for a while.

Percy pulled away from Frank with pieces of Frank singed jeans stuck to him like fly paper.

"So Kamikaze Hawk huh?" Percy joked, though his voice shook just enough for Hazel to hear. Annabeth rested her hand on Percy's elbow.

"Just trying to keep up with my – whatever kind of relation you are – to me," Frank returned the joke. He turned, and finally noticed the cut on Hazel's hand.

Frank's eyes widened. "Hazel you're bleeding-"

"It's fine," Hazel insisted. She fell silent when Clarisse stepped over to Frank.

Hazel was finally able to notice a few things now that the other girl wasn't trying to kill her. She looked about 18, her hair seemed to constantly shift from an auburn to a darker brown. She was well built, but not as stocky as she had originally thought, and she had striking features.

Clarisse looked Frank up and down, like she was sizing him up. Frank was covered in soot and ash, and his arm was still bleeding from the arrow. Plus he was wearing no more than scraps of purple cotton and denim.

But Hazel watched in admiration as Frank returned Clarisse's gaze with the same intensity.

Clarisse made a sound that was between a clearing of her throat and a growl. She held out her hand to Frank."Thanks for what you did."

Frank paused for just a moment, like Clarisse's hand would attack him. But he still shook it. "Don't mention it."

Clarisse turned to Hazel. "Your boyfriend's got iron ones I'll give him that," she released Frank's hand and held it out to Hazel. "Can I have my knife back now?"

Hazel realized she was still holding the rust red dagger. She handed it to Clarisse, hilt first.

The older girl took it, sheathing it in a scabbard underneath her belt. "Sorry about, you know trying to kill you-I guess."

"Thanks," Hazel felt a bit awkward. But she'd take awkward over Frank being dead and Roman and Greek demigods fighting each other to the end of time any day.

Scipio gave a snorted whinny and landed beside Reyna with such a light movement that the ship barely shook at all, even with all the damage it had sustained. Reyna raised an arm covered in sooty armor and patted Scipio's neck.

She took a step towards the Camp Half Blood side.

"Reyna!" Octavian scrambled up; his feet slipped on the iron ore like water. The dark stones scattered around the deck.

"Watch out!" Hazel yelled.

Jason yanked Piper back from the sliding rocks. Other campers from Half Blood Hill and Camp Jupiter began to pull back too. They didn't know of Hazel's curse, but they could hear the commanding tone in her voice to back away.

Hazel wadded through the little pile of stones that reached their apex around Octavian's ankles.

"Hazel!" Frank yelled at her in as much warning as he would if Octavian were a rabid dog she were approaching.

Hazel knelt down and placed a palm to the hole in the deck. It extended through entire depth of the ship, right down to the engine room. The stones began to recede like a wave drawing back to the ocean and vanished down the black hole.

She was yanked up hard by her arm and flung backwards, a sword blade pinned at her throat.

"Hazel!" Frank yelled.

Jason drew his sword.

"Let her go!" Percy commanded.

Octavian's breath was hot on her neck and smelled foul. Flecks of spit flew at her. "You were _always_ more trouble than you were worth!-"

Hazel grabbed the hilt of Octavian's sword. She pulled back hard, levering his arm so that he cried out and dropped his weapon with a heavy clatter.

"At least I'm worth something!" Hazel beaned him with the flat of sword blade, right between the eyes. The blow dropped Octavian flat on his butt.

He stared up hatefully at Hazel, right into the tip of the sword she pointed at his neck.

Octavian glared at her with pinpricked pupils, his eyes manic looking. "You will _never_ be allowed back into New Rome! You or your _lumbering_ elephant!-" He cast hateful eyes at Frank, like if it wasn't for the sword at his neck he would kill Frank where he stood and this time, make sure it stuck. "You have no home, Hazel Leveque, you are a _traitor-"_

"No-" Reyna picked up a fallen sword from the deck of the Argos and thrust it under Octavian's chin. "_You_ are. You don't care about the Legions, or about defending Camp Jupiter. You only care about _yourself!" _ She stepped forward; the tip of her sword drew a drop of blood on his skin. Her eyes were sharper than the blade. She raised Octavian's chin with the sword tip with such precision that it didn't cut him a second time.

But Reyna gripped the hilt of the sword in such a way that Hazel knew that she only had to flick her wrist if she wanted to change her mind.

Despite having _both_ Reyna's and Hazel pointing swords under his throat, Octavian still managed to look smug and petulant. "I am _Arguer_!" He said it the same way someone would say: _I'm president of the United States'. _The pupils of his eyes seemed to vanish and his eyes became almost a translucent milk white.

"Not anymore," Reyna flicked her wrist, drawing back the sword.

"Don't child," Hecate held up her hands like she was about to cast a spell or stop a school bus. The goddess' image flickered like a wavering candle flame. Her robes grew more scraggly, her hair became white and patched with baldness. But her eyes still remained the same intense copper.

Reyna whipped her head to Hecate, her sword still poised. "This-" she seemed unable to come up with a name worthy enough to describe the utter disdain she felt for Octavian. "He has whispered in my ear for too long! He nearly killed one of his own and doesn't even _care;_ he is not worthy of life!-"

"Everyone is worthy of life girl," Hecate returned. "What _kind_ of life they are worthy of is the cross road they must choose." She glared at Octavian like she wanted to skin and spit him over an open fire. "You have chose your junction boy; and my cousin has sealed your fate to it."

Hecate reached down and plucked an errant piece of iron ore in wizened fingers.

Hazel had an insane moment where she wanted to yell '_watch out!'_, but then she realized that Hecate was immortal.

"What does _that_ mean?" Octavian glare back at the goddess like she was just a crazy lady collecting pebbles in a plastic shopping bag.

Hecate flickered back and forth between both her Greek and Roman forms like a skipping film strip. Finally she settled on a combination of both. The features of the young woman in a full black robe, her long hair a pure white, copper eyes molten. She stared at Octavian like she didn't know whether to pity him, or show him the full extent of a Minor Goddess' smiting ability. "You will find out soon enough I'm afraid." She flicked the piece of iron ore at him. It bounced once of his breast plate and landed on his leg.

A look of doubt and fear finally emerged on Octavian's face.

Hecate turned a complete revolution, her robes swept around her body like she was dancing with herself. She came to a stop and stared at the point in the Argos where it straddled the border of Half Blood Hill.

"If you still insist on slaughtering each other-" Hecate stared at a fixed point on the horizon.

Hazel could see the peeking of tall evergreen trees; where the goddess was looking. This place really was beautiful.

"I'm not going to stop you," Hecate said. "I'm too old and tired to deal with another group of insolent children who want to maim each other with sharp things. My millennia of existence has taught me that those that seek blood will always get what they wish-" Hecate was speaking to no one specifically, but it was like she was speaking to everyone. "But remember wish and _want_ are two different paths entirely."

A glow surrounded Hecate, bright and hot like she had just swallowed lit light bulbs. Her shape began to grow taller.

Hazel had been around enough gods to know that meant duck and cover. She shielded her hands over her eyes. Frank grabbed her and she pressed her eyes into his shirt, it smelled like burned horse hair and ash.

The light grew warmer than a million light bulbs and finally a blast shook the ship.

When Hazel braved to open her eyes, Hecate was gone, and a giant goddess sized scorch mark lay in her wake on the deck boards.

Clarisse stared at the scorch mark, then up at Reyna. It wasn't a happy look, or a murderous one. It was more of a _'what in Holy Mars do we do now?'_ one.

Percy's eyes flicked back and forth from Reyna to Clarisse like one of them would untimely lunge at the other one, it was just a matter of who had faster reflexes.

Reyna stared at Clarisse, at the spear that sparked with electricity like one of those balls at a museum. "I am the daughter of Bellona, Roman Goddess of War, I do not like _yielding."_

Octavian had the gall to look massively smug at Reyna's words.

Reyna breathed a sigh that sounded like she was grinding metal in between her teeth, pointing her sword at the other girl, then at all the other members of Camp Half Blood members beside Clarisse. Some of the campers were streaked with red blood, some had holes burned through their clothes from wounds. All of them were still standing.

"It is not in my nature." Reyna's eyes settled on Percy who looked like he got hit with a city bus and dragged through multiple garbage dumps. "But if Gaea is truly defeated, then you are not my enemy." A thunderous clatter hit the deck of the Argos as Reyna dropped the sword in her hand.

Octavian seemed to finally come back to himself, and stared at Reyna like she had been sipping from Dakota's Kool-Aid flask. "Reyna, you can't be _serious!"_

Reyna looked at him like she wanted to reclaim her sword and run him through with it, but the look died as quickly as it was born. She turned to the campers of Half Blood Hill who Hazel saw gripping their weapons tighter like they weren't sure if this was all some sort of trick. "I ask that you return the prisoner you've captured. He can be tended to by our ranks."

"You can't just leave!" Annabeth hobbled closer to Reyna. Percy followed her limping steps, letting her lean her weight on him. "We need to have some sort of senate council to discuss our next steps."

Reyna stared at Annabeth like she was now just seeing the state she was in. "Senate Councils are a _Roman_ concept Daughter of Athena, and we are not all equal on that front-"

"We're standing in Long Island Reyna!" Annabeth's eyes radiated a fierce gray glow. "Democratic society is an _American_ concept as well."

"We have wounded to attend to-"

"So do we," Annabeth insisted.

"What do you want Annabeth?" Reyna growled it out so that it sounded like a challenge. "Friendship?" Her words were as corrosive as acid.

"I want to hear something besides the sounds of fighting, and pain." Annabeth returned. "I want you to hear us out. And us you. We don't have to be friends, we just don't need to be enemies."Annabeth threw the little dagger she had been fighting with on top of Reyna's sword. It clattered there like a tin can.

Thalia looked doubtful for just a moment, but then dropped her shield to the ground, it rolled like a giant coin.

Jason lowered his sword from Octavian's neck and dropped it on top of Reyna's.

A look passed between Reyna and Jason, like something had both been lost and won in that gesture.

Clarisse rolled her eyes for a moment like she couldn't believe she was doing this, but she threw her spear onto the deck, sparks shot up from it like fireworks.

She glared over at her cabin mates, several of them glared back like she was crazy. But at her almost snake like hiss, they dropped their spears and swords. It sounded like a suit of armor break dancing party.

"Your turn," Percy said it almost like a dare.

Reyna turned and gave a nod to her Legions. Her look was met with both visual and audible protest. There was an odd clatter of a noise as spears and swords dropped from the hands of the Legions who chose to remember who they worked for, even if they didn't like it.

"This is _madness!"_ Octavian screamed, trying to push the swords back into the Roman's hands. They let them drop back down. Some even smacked him in the chest with them and backed away. "These _demons-!"_

"Okay that's it-" Percy draped Annabeth's arm over Jason shoulders and walked over to Octavian. He drew back his arm and punched him with a mean upper cut right in the face.

Octavian reeled back and stumbled over his Legion's cape. He fell flat on his back on the deck and didn't get up.

Percy glanced around the ship at both sides of campers. "Anyone got a problem with that?"

No one from either side said anything to object.

"You read my mind, man." Leo finally cracked a joke.

Percy shot him a smile, but he started to not look so hot.

Hazel watched in horror as he clutched his side and fell to his knees.

"Percy!" Annabeth and Thalia surged forward. Both girls reached him just as he hit the deck in a dead faint.


	19. Annabeth 10

**xxxxxXxxxx**

**ANNABETH**

Annabeth sat in a chair by a cot in the Camp Infirmary and slipped a spoonful of nectar in Percy's mouth. Will Solace propped his head up on another pillow so he wouldn't choke on the Godly Drink.

She was hit with a powerful wave of déjà vu as she spooned more nectar in his mouth. She remembered a 12 year-old-boy, a car, and a battle with a Minotaur.

Percy moaned in his sleep as Will raised his shirt and unwound the bandage from his side, swearing when he saw the wound.

"Holy Zeus!" Will's curse echoed around the Camp Infirmary.

The wound had reopened when Percy had fallen off the boat, blood leaked out of the jagged gash.

"How in Hades did this happen?" Will probed Percy's side with his fingers, dabbing a silver ointment into the wound.

"Can we talk about it later?" Annabeth had to shake her head away from a memory of a band of skeletons. She set down the nectar and grabbed Percy's non mangled hand.

Will turned to her, a look of understanding in his eyes. "It look messier than it actually is. It's reopened, but not infected. Whoever dressed it before did a good job." Will placed a hand on Percy's head and said a prayer in Ancient Greek. Percy's body visibly relaxed.

"He's going to be okay," Will began to rewrap Percy's side in fresh bandages. He looked over at Annabeth. "How are you doing?"

Annabeth sat on a foldable director's chair. Her broken ankle had to be splinted again after her stunt of jumping over the deck of the Argos. It sat propped up in front of her on a second chair. Thankfully, the gashes on her arms and legs had healed enough that they only bled through one wrapping of bandages, even after all of the fighting she had just undertaken. So they could be left alone.

Annabeth didn't even know where to begin to answer Will's question. The word: 'okay' was out of the question. She was –relieved, sad, traumatized – but right now, she was just exhausted. She traced Percy's palm with her thumb, and smoothed back his hair. "Ask me tomorrow?"

Will set a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it.

Percy's eyes blinked open. He instantly settled on top of Annabeth's . "Hey-"

Annabeth squeezed his hand."You drool in your sleep."

Percy gave her a weak, but still lopsided trademark smile. "I heard some girls dig guys like that."

She shook her head, and leant down and kissed him. His lips were dry and cracked, but warm, and tasted like ocean water.

"Percy!" Frank ran from another side of the infirmary, in jeans a size too big and a long sleeved white shirt that said _'Centaurs Have All the Time in the World' _ One of the sleeves was torn off to accommodate his wounded shoulder which was bandaged and in a blue sling. "You're awake!" Frank came to a stop beside the cot Percy was lying on. "Man you scared us!"

Percy winced and sat up with Annabeth's help. He braced himself and took the one handed bear hug Frank offered him. Annabeth watched Percy survey the room. There was a mixture of wounded campers from Half Blood Hill and Camp Jupiter. Both camps were not intermingled, but Apollo campers tended to them all. Dakota, the red mouthed Kool-Aid fiend, was sipping nectar trying not to make eyes at Rebekah, Will's 15-year-old half sister. Other than a bandaged shoulder like Frank, Dakota looked no worse for wear.

Octavian was still out, lying 5 cots down from Percy. Tyson, Percy's Cyclops half brother and Ella the Harpy stood over him like a sentry. Leo had wanted him tied down to the bed with Celestial Bronze, but Annabeth had vetoed it. Percy had a pretty mean hook, Octavian wouldn't be going anywhere for a while.

Jason and Piper were with Leo, checking the damage on the Argos. Straddling into the boundary of the ship had created more damage than all their months flying and sailing to both Greece and Rome.

Annabeth spotted Hazel helping Connor Stoll hand out little juice boxes of nectar to her fellow injured Camp Jupiter campers. Connor kept pulling his hand back after each kid took the nectar like they had Venus Fly traps in place of hands. But Hazel kept giving him reassuring looks and Connor's wariness started to melt into his normal insane personality.

He started to hand off each juice box with a "_Thank you for being injured with us!"_

Hazel turned, and when she spotted Percy sitting up, she shoved the tray of Nectar at Connor, and sprinted like a marathon runner to his cot. Connor was left trying to shield himself under a rain of Nectar boxes.

Hazel tackled Percy in a mass of honey curls. "Thank the Gods!"

Annabeth watched Hazel hug her boyfriend fiercely. When she had first met Hazel Annabeth had been a bit jealous because she thought they might have gotten together. But once those 2.5 seconds had stopped, and after all the months she had known Hazel- Annabeth knew their relationship was like brother and sister.

Hazel pulled back. "In Pluto's name Percy, you've got to stop doing that!"

"Yeah, " Percy looked a bit guilty. "Frank already read me the riot act."

Hazel had a hand resting on Percy's shoulder, and it was wrapped around the palm in a white bandage.

"How's your hand?" Annabeth asked the other girl.

Hazel unwound the bandage in response and held her hand palm out to them.

Annabeth half gasped. The wound was bigger than a splinter wound was supposed to be, and blotted with trickles of drying blood.

It was jagged, but precise; It spelled out a word:

_Vita._

"Connor did it for me," Hazel looked over at Connor Stoll who had just now finally picked up all the Nectar juice boxes he dropped.

Percy looked at Hazel dumbfounded. "All that to get out one splinter?"

"The splinter's still there Percy," Hazel said.

Percy's dumfounded look became one of concern. "It's going to leave a gigando scar," he stared at Connor in accusation, like an older brother would to a tattoo artist who had given his little sister an illegal tattoo behind his back.

Connor seemed to sense this and turned to face him. "Don't look at me man, _she _asked for it." Connor sounded a bit impressed at what Hazel had requested of him.

"It's okay Percy, that's kind of the point." Hazel stared at the cuts, at the word Annabeth had seen under the blood."Vita means _Life_ in Ancient Latin," Hazel rewrapped her hand, and locked eyes with Frank. "And I kinda promised Frank I'd hold on to his."

Frank met Hazel's eyes, and it was like everyone else had vanished except for them.

Annabeth suddenly understood what Hazel had done. She wanted to yell about the dangers of Scarification with splinters _embedded_ in them. But it was all that was left of a magical piece of firewood that contained the life force of Hazel's boyfriend, so she kept her mouth shut.

The sound of horse hooves thudded on the wood of the floor. Chiron ducked his head under the door post and came inside the infirmary. He still wore his breast plate, and it was coated in dried mud as well as his forearms.

"Chiron," Percy lowered his feet to the floor.

"Percy," Chiron stepped over them, even his front hooves were caked in mud.

"My boy, how are you?" Chiron's voice was heavy with so many emotions that Annabeth felt them too.

Annabeth saw a shading of tears on Percy's lashes, but in the end he dry laughed. "Sorry about being a little late for camp."

Chiron echoed Percy's laugh with a quiet one of his own. "You came back Percy, that's the important part." He set a hand on Percy's' shoulder. "We are nearly ready to begin negotiations."

At the word 'negotiations' Percy looked around the room, at the wounded Camp Jupiter Legions, at Octavian, who was still knocked out. Ella was perched beside him humming a tune that sounded suspiciously like '_YMCA_ by the Village People.

"Where's Reyna?" Percy asked.

"She's in the War Room," Chiron said. "She is-" Chiron searched for a moment for the right word "_spirited_. But she is willing to undertake negotiations with us. Annabeth didn't want to start the meeting without you-" Annabeth felt the centaur's eyes on her and she felt all of 7-years-old again, standing beside Luke in the Big House meeting the centaur for the first time.

Chiron eyed Percy with more concern than Annabeth had seen Poseidon do. "That is if you're up for it-"

"Chiron, I've been away from here for almost a year. I'm _more_ than ready to see Camp again." Percy returned, his voice lacking everything except sincerity. "Let's go," He stared to climb to his feet, but Chiron held out his hand.

"Not just yet."

Percy stared at him in confusion. "You just said-"

"Yes I did my boy, but I feel that the meeting can wait a little longer."

Percy's look became even more confused, so did Annabeth's.

Chiron had no weapons on him, but he reached behind his back a moment later and pulled out a battered looking war bow. It was charred and burned at one end, but the remaining length of the bow was a bright array of primary colors, like a vertical rainbow. "I'm sorry for being so late with the news-Iris took it upon herself to defend the borders _after_ the threat had ceased," Chiron rolled his eyes, but then looked almost guilty. "Why she chose _today_ to come out of war retirement I'll never know-"

"Chiron," Percy said, finally rising to his feet with a slight wince. Annabeth pulled herself up on her crutch to steady him. "What are you talking about?"

"Percy," Chiron looked down at him. "There's something outside that you need to see."

Percy locked eyes with Annabeth. She gave him an '_It's okay, I'll come too' _ look. After everything they had just gone through she couldn't stand to be without him either.

She grabbed her other crutch, and followed him in a limp out of the infirmary, Hazel and Frank trailed behind them.

They emerged in the afternoon sunlight. When she had dangled with Percy above the pit in Archane's lair in Rome Annabeth didn't know if she would ever see the sunlight again. Through the entire journey with in Tartarus, she saw illusions, copies. But it didn't hold a candle to the real thing that she felt warming skin of her arms. It made her want to stop and lay down in the shafts of honey colored light that filtered through the needles of the fir trees and never go inside again.

Campers milled around the dining pavilion, clearing away fallen parts of the roof that had been broken off from a hail of Roman arrows.

Annabeth saw several members of her own cabin, including her half brother Malcolm picking up broken shingles and tossing them into the large circular fire pit they used for burnt offerings to the Gods. A group of Ares Campers added cypress wood to the fire, and even though it wasn't night, they set the wood alight as an offering to the Goddess Heista for sparing their home.

Chris Rodriguez stuck his shovel in the dirt and wiped the sweat off his face. He spotted Percy, and approached him with a "Hey man! It's been a long time!" He slapped hands with Percy then pulled him into a lose fitting hug.

One of Hermes cabin nudged his brother, who almost fell over backwards because he was standing on the head of his shovel like it was a pogo stick. Other campers started to gather to the spot, Some of them Annabeth knew, some were young kids she had barely met before she had gone off to Rome with the Seven.

The younger ones stared at Percy like he was a superhero from a Marvel comic book. Annabeth heard them whispering and pointing at them. They all had smudges on their faces, some of them sported bandages and tattered clothes. But they actually started to clap when Percy came closer to them.

Percy waved back at them all bit awkwardly. For all his showboating, Annabeth knew he never really desired his fame. He was much happier in his small group of friends, then signing autographs. Annabeth took his hand again, it was a bit awkward trying to do that and balance on her crutches but she managed.

They walked down the shore to the canoe lake. A few Nereid's popped their head out of the water and waved at Percy, some of them clicking and giggling, blowing him kisses. Annabeth glared at the bolder ones and their heads dropped back under the water.

"It's beautiful here," Hazel and Frank took everything in with the same wonderment Annabeth had given their home in New Rome. They were holding hands, Frank's to Hazel's bandaged one. The sight of it made Annabeth smile.

Percy stopped at one point to run his hands over an evergreen tree with an arrow stuck in it from the last game of Capture the Flag he and Annabeth had played together. It had been a councilor team vs councilor team game. The arrow had been courtesy of Clarisse who _swore_ she had been only intending to disarm, not maim; even though it came a hairs length away from Percy's jugular.

The tree was an old gnarled one that had stood there since Annabeth had first started at Camp.

Percy touched the flat of his palm to the tree like he could feel a heart beat underneath it. A wood nymph emerged from the trunk with long dark hair and elfish features in a dress the color of green grass. "Oh it's you, where have you been?" The nymph eyed Percy like he was someone who was very, _very_ late for dinner.

"Where _haven't_ I been?" Percy's response made the nymph raise her eyebrows.

She reached over and plucked the arrow from the depths of her tree's trunk. "Clarisse De Rue was very insistent I not take this out until I saw you again. I think she was feeling sentimental, which is weird for a Daughter of Ares- it's been _Hades_ having this _stuck _ in my side for almost a year I'll have you know," she thrust the arrow at Percy. "Next time, disappear for a _shorter_ amount of time!"

Percy gripped the arrow by the feathers balancing it on the shaft. He looked like he didn't know what to say. He walked on, not letting go of the arrow.

The finally came to the border of Camp. Most of the Argos was now inside the border. There were over a dozen suspensions and pulleys rigged to the side of the railings that were still intact; they wrapped around Thala's pine tree and ran to the ground.

Annabeth saw Leo on the ground pulling at a system of levers on a Celestial Bronze set of hydraulics. There were three large globe like structures suspended above them like revolving planets, and Annabeth stared in amazement as they pulled at some of the ropes on the ship with a series of clicks like miniature super computers with hidden forklifts inside. Jason stood beside Leo, his purple shirt was soaked in sweat, two sets of ropes gripped tightly in his hands.

"Pull guys!" Leo ordered, flipping another lever. The ropes moved back with the speed of a retractable zip line. Annabeth saw something raise up from out the side sliding doors down in the Pegasus stables.

She sucked in her breath as she saw the head of the _Athena Parthos_ rose upwards over the ship. The image of her mother holding her spear and balancing the image of Nike on the scale rose higher and higher like a skyscraper that was being erected. Even after traveling thousands of miles in less than perfect conditions, the statue looked undamaged. Annabeth could feel the radiating power of her mother like the rays of the sun on a hot July day.

"Percy; Annabeth!" Thalia ran over to them from the direction of the cabin circle. She stopped by Annabeth, reaching over to hug her. Her shield Ageus was back to a bracelet on her wrist.

Annabeth returned the hug. She had numerous such hugs from her friends since returning to Camp, and after all the horrors of Tartarus, she relished every one of them.

Thalia stared at the statue with a look of pure awe. "Is that-" Thalia looked to Annabeth for clarity. "That's _Athena_ isn't it?"

Annabeth nodded.

"Holy Hades, that's _incredible!"_ Thalia continued to gape. "It looks just like her."

A look settled over Annabeth's face that Thalia seemed to sense because she changed the subject.

"What's going on? Chiron's got most everyone assembled; but both sides are getting pretty restless and _cramped_ in the Big House waiting to start the council meeting thing-"

"I don't know," Annabeth answered honestly. She found it hard to tear her eyes from the image of her mom. Especially since the last time they had spoken she had all but cast her out of the family. Annabeth stared at the statue with a longing to see Athena like this again; proud, wise, herself.

"Chiron told Percy to go outside," Annabeth forced herself to look away from the _Athena Parthos_ "and I wasn't letting him do that alone."

"_He would've been perfectly safe, child."_

The voice made Annabeth turn. A woman in a tie dyed poncho under an armored breast plate and jeans stood at the border of camp. She wore yellow tinted sunglasses and her braided hair looked a little, actually a _lot_ windblown around her head. She stood at the port end of the Argos, arms crossed over her breast plate surveying the work of Leo and the others like a foreman.

She was Iris, the messenger Goddess.

Percy looked like he wanted to throw a brick at her head. Oddly enough, so did Hazel.

"Perseus, good to see you alive," Iris said it like she was saying 'hi'. She turned to Hazel. "You too Harriet-"

"Hazel," Hazel snapped. "So, do you believe us now about Gaea?"

Iris lowered her yellow glasses and stared at Hazel above them. "There is _crisis_ in a war child; even goddess allowed their mistakes. And what I did, I did for the good of Olympus."

"So why did Chiron want you to see me?" Percy cut Iris off, which she didn't look to happy about.

Iris looked at Percy like she would a puppy who had been hit with a tire iron that she was tending too. "Poor thing, still a little scrambled. _I _ didn't want to see you my boy. Chiron-" she huffed. "Honestly I don't know what is the matter with that old Centaur. He steals my bow, he acts like," she snarled like she was a leopard that had been gravely wounded. "I was only doing my Olympic duty to protect his camp. But if he insists on _not_ caring then what-_ever,"_ She paused for a moment to blow a piece of frazzled hair from her face."I will add this to your bill child-"

Annabeth expected Percy to give Iris an eye roll or make a joke, or at least ask _what _ in Hades she was talking about. But he just stood stock still, like a rabbit paused in the brush.

"Percy-?" Annabeth turned to him and grabbed his arm in concern.

Percy didn't respond to her. He was looking past the _Athena Parthos, _ staring at something dead ahead of him."Mom-?"

At the word Annabeth turned in the same direction that Percy was looking.

Past the arched stone border of Camp, half a yard or so away from the barrier stood a very familiar green Prius.

Annabeth saw the figure of a woman climb out of the driver's side. Her long thick black hair was in a half attempted up do. She wore a dirty looking gray sweater and jeans. Her dark green eyes were lined with puffy bags.

But when the woman turned and caught sight of Percy, Annabeth could see how much she didn't give a centaur's hindquarters about the state of her appearance.

Percy stared at her like he'd been smacked with a sword. Like he was back in Tartarus, and this was all an illusion. But when he saw her raise her hands to her mouth, that look vanished.

"_Mom!"_ Percy started to pull Annabeth along, but she let go of his hand when she knew all he really wanted to do was run. She nodded at him in a look that said '_go.'_

Percy looked at her unsure, not wanting to leave her behind.

"Percy!" Sally Jackson slammed the car door shut. She began to run through the forest that bordered the Camp, but she only made it a few feet before she was halted by the magical border of the camp.

Percy broke into a sprint, Annabeth doing her best to keep up with him. But she fell behind because of her stupid crutches and an ankle that hated her.

Percy dodged past the Argos who's port end stuck out in his way like a road block, past Thalia's Tree, and the _Athena Parthos. _

He raced past the border and the evergreen trees and jumped on his mom.

By the time Annabeth reached the border both Sally and Percy were crying.

"Percy," Sally held him in a bone crushing hug. "_Percy-_" she grabbed him up around the neck, tears falling down her face heavily down her face.

Percy buried his face in Sally's neck, his shoulders shaking._"I missed you so much mom." _ He grabbed huge handfuls of her sweater.

"I missed you too baby-" Sally words were choked sobs. She pulled him away to look at him, gripping his face tightly. "I-" She kissed his forehead and hugged him again, stroking his hair. Her eyes slammed shut. "Thank you, _thank you!" _ The words seemed to be to everything that had brought her son back to her.

Leo stood beside the Argos, hand poised above the lever to his machines, watching the scene. Jason doing the same beside him, the ropes slack in his hand.

Hazel hand her bandaged hand up to her mouth. Piper, Leo, and Frank just stared like they were caught in a trance.

Annabeth felt tears stream down her face.

Sally cupped both his cheeks, surveying every inch of him, she seemed to sense the injuries his clothing covered. She looked at the bandages on his hand in the critical way that only a mother could. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Percy reassured. "Just a few scrapes."

Sally swiped away a tear track off his face with her thumb. She turned and saw Annabeth standing there "You kept your promise Annabeth, you brought him home,_"_ she drew Annabeth into a hug like the last time Annabeth had seen her in Percy's apartment. When she promised that she wouldn't come back alone.

"Gods," Sally wiped at her eyes. "Chiron said you have a meeting; you need to go before you're all late," Sally looked at all of them, even all the members of the seven that she didn't know, like they were a part of her family.

"Mom, no," Percy stepped back over to her. "It can wait-there's so much I wanted to-"

"We'll talk after baby," Sally took his hands. "I'm here okay?" She squeezed them." I've always been here."

Percy grabbed his mom and kissed her, wrapping her into another hug. He was almost a full head taller than her now. "I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart." Sally returned. Her voice was choked.

When Percy pulled away he turned to Hazel and Frank, who were the closest to him. "Mom these are-"

"After baby, I promise." Sally sounded like Annabeth imagined she had done when Percy was a kid, soothing, reassuring. It erased that horrific memory of the fake Sally in Tartarus. Sally stared at Hazel and Frank like she had known them for years instead of minutes."I know friends of yours when I see them." She nudged him forward. "Go okay?"

Percy kissed her one more time and their hands took a long moment to separate.

Percy took Annabeth's hand, but turned around again. "Mom- Can you make blue cupcakes when I come home?"

Sally managed a laugh around a veil of crying. "As many as you want."

As they walked back towards the Big House Frank turned to Percy. "You're mom is really awesome man."

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "I know."


	20. Leo 10

**xxxxXxxxx**

**LEO**

Leo had lived through a second Titan War, an erupting volcano, and flying a warship with a crazy obsessed satyr at the helm. But it still amazed him that Camp Half Blood had an important council meeting between warring demigods who had been warring for centuries around a ping pong table with crackers and cheese whiz.

The head councilors of Camp Half Blood sat on one side; Reyna at the head of the table like she wanted to play ping pong sitting down. Beside her was Dakota, sipping from a _Teva_ tumbler of cherry Kool-Aid with pictures of Hydras on it.

Leo, and the rest of the Seven took up the remaining space. Coach Hedge sat beside Percy's friend Grover who looked like he wanted to eat the ping pong net as much as Hedge did. He and Grover had already gone through half a tournament's worth of ping pong balls with Cheese Whiz.

To say the air was tense was as big of an understatement as saying Gaea simply had '_parental issues'_ with her children. All weapons had been left outside per Annabeth's request (Chiron had backed her up after some Ares campers threatened Mutiny.)

"So, you're really from Rome huh?" Travis Stoll ventured to Reyna. He smeared his Ritz cracker with cheese, spraying half the table top, and half of Connor. "Is that why you were trying to kill us?"

It was as good a start as any.

Reyna stared at Travis as like a head of state addressing another, slightly crazy looking head of state. "To be fair," her voice was steely. _"_You tried to kill us as well."

"_Kill_ is such a harsh word," Connor said from his seat beside his twin, wiping Cheese Whiz out of his eyebrows. "We were just trying to make you Life Handicapped."

Reyna almost looked like she wanted to laugh at that, if it weren't directed at her and the Legions that she lead.

Leo had to stifle a snicker in his hand, because it wasn't directed at him.

Reyna moved the cheese whiz and crackers around on the plate in front of her like it wasn't a suitable meal. "So what do you propose we do now?" She eyed the Camp Half Blood members across the ping pong table's net.

Her hair was plastered to her face, and she smelled like the boy's locker room at the last regular school Leo had been at before he got kicked out. But she still wore her armor. She didn't have a sword, but she managed to make banging her pointer finger onto the table top look menacing.

"Being ignorant of each other existence gave us a kind of immunity before." Reyna picked up one of the crackers, took a tentative bite, and made a face like she was chewing rancid milk. She spat the crackers into a napkin "But now that we are aware; things cannot be as they were before."

"Gaea's defeated Reyna," Jason insisted.

Jason sat directly across from his former partner in crime, Piper on his right, Thalia on his left. The eldest child of Zeus looked as formidable as Reyna; fingering the cuff bracelet that became her scary as Hades shield.

"You're right about things not being the same-" Jason said; glancing to Percy and Annabeth who sat together next to Chiron, hands linked on the table top."I don't think they're supposed to be. Because we can't go on pretending the other doesn't exist. But that doesn't make us enemies. It makes us-" Jason even looked unsure about his next words.

"What? " Reyna flashed Jason an angry look. "_Friends? _ There might have been a time for that Jason Grace," she pushed the plate of crackers away from her like it was an illustration to her point. "But that time has passed-"

"No, it hasn't," Leo felt that he should speak up. After all, _he _was the one who had fired the first Celestial bronze cannon in New Rome. Granted he was possessed at the time. But now wasn't the time for a debate over that fact."If having both Greek _and_ Roman demigods seal up Dirt Face Jones in her prison for the rest of forever isn't enough to unite both Camps, then what is?"

Leo watched Reyna mouth '_Dirt Face Jones?'_ with an odd look on her face.

The look was extremely out of place, almost comical given the fact that Leo had never seen Reyna look anything other than angry at the existence of everyone who made her mad.

But that weird look on the Praetor of Rome's face finally melted into the same kind of look Annabeth had given Leo whenever she had to admit that she didn't know something."You make a point- Grac-"

"Okay, first off," Leo cut Reyna off. She didn't exactly look happy about that. "If we're trying to unite ourselves, it's _Leo._ Or if you want, _Most Awesome Leo Son of Hephaestus. _ None of this 'Gracus' stuff okay? Kind of derogatory from one of the guys who shut up the Wicked Witch of the Dirt in the volcano."

Reyna looked at him with something that bordered on being impressed; eyeing him like she was just now becoming aware of the presence he had. "Leo then."

Leo felt his legs turn to melted ambrosia at the sound of Reyna saying his name like that. Like she noticed him.

"You feel that, even after _centuries_ of feuds and wars, our two camps can unite without any kind of hitches?"

"No," Leo said so bluntly that Reyna raised her eyebrows at him. "Building things is _never _easy. Hitches are a part of the deal. But if we want to have any kind of peace we have to start somewhere."

There was a snort in the corner. Octavian had been brought into the war room because Chiron had 'wanted to keep a closer eye on him' (Chiron's words, not Leo's). He was sitting in a wooden chair against the wall with Percy's big giant Cyclops of brother Tyson watching him. Tyson was a giant pushover. But standing there at almost 8 feet tall Leo couldn't tell, and thank Hephaestus, neither apparently could Octavian. Because the little schist wasn't shackled down(_not _Leo's idea). But he also wasn't trying to escape anywhere.

"How about we start with how _stupid_ all of this is?" Octavian's scowl seemed to permeate the room. "And work our way to the part where Rome seeks its vengeance on Gracus scum such as you?"

Percy growled at the skinny guy like he wanted to permeate his skull with his fist again. "How about you shut your face, and work your way up to totally not talking for the rest of forever?"

Octavian scowled at him. "You are a nothing more than a waste of good skin Percy Jackson!-"

"That's enough!" Reyna snapped.

Octavian glared murderously at her. "Even after _everything_ Jackson has done, you are still so disillusioned as to _side_ with him?" His voice became high pitched, like he swallowed a bag full of piccolos. "You should have stayed on Circe's Island, useless handmaiden-"

Reyna's eyes became so cold Leo swore that the ping pong table was about to freeze over."You will hold your tongue during council meetings Arguer until you are deemed _worthy _of the right to speak. Or if you find it too hard to contain yourself, Percy can arrange to put you under again and we can wake you up when that time comes."

Octavian snapped his mouth shut like a guppy, glaring ice picks at Reyna, who turned away from him like she was done with him entirely.

Percy bit his lip to hide his grin.

Man, Reyna was Leo's kind of woman. The fact that she tried to kill his friends, but didn't, then totally pwoned a smart mouth guy who loved to slash teddy bears? This gold star list just kept piling up.

Reyna turned to Leo."You were saying, Son of Hephaestus?"

Leo took a moment to remember how to talk. When she wasn't trying to kill him, Reyna was both beautiful and intimidating as Hades. Basically his ideal kind of woman. He felt the oddest sensation to recite something along the lines of: "_To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under Olympus"_ to sound clever. But he was pretty sure that it would plagiarize something someone important had said before.

Leo cleared his throat, staring around the room at all his friends, dirty, injured but still alive and there beside him. He then stared at the Romans across from him. All of them watched him expectantly, waiting for him to say something profound and earth shattering:

"We've all had enough of war, pretty safe bet right?"

Okay, it wasn't Shakespeare. But Shakespeare wrote poems. Leo worked with machines, built trireme warships and moonlighted as an occasional motivational speaker, so sue him.

Reyna, Frank and Clarisse, all children of war gods, were the first ones who turned their eyes on Leo in silent agreement. At least Reyna wasn't looking at Leo like she wanted to institutionalize him. Clarisse looked at him like he was a tad off, but she always looked at him like that. Same with Frank. Leo had started to consider crazy looks from people he knew a form of love.

"And all we are saying," Leo cleared his throat. "Is- give peace a chance?" Okay, so it did wind up having some plagiarism in it. But, what he was saying actually seemed to be registering with both sides. Or at least everyone was still too tired from the battle to _'boo'_ and throw their cheese and crackers at him. "Gaea may have started the fighting, but _we all _ were the ones who decided to keep it going; she didn't force that part on us."

Campers from both sides sat higher up over Ritz crackers to listen to him.

"Don't we owe it to ourselves to see what crossroads something _besides_ fightingleads us down? Demigods lifelines aren't exactly long anyways, so why do we have to help shorten it?"

Reyna looked like she understood all of what Leo was talking about, at least somewhat. Which was amazing, because _he_ couldn't understand all of what he was talking about. He was just making it up as he went along.

Annabeth gave him a nod from her seat beside Percy.

It gave Leo the courage to continue. "Of course, we have to hammer out the details. But it just so happens I have a _lot_ of Hammers. At least I will once the meeting is over and Chiron gives us all back our weapons. That's all I have to say." Leo stalled out like a dying car battery.

Leo looked at all the people looking at him, waiting like he had when his mother had managed to come to his school play of Peter Pan and he had just finished his part as one of the Lost Boys. She clapped the loudest out of all the other parents in the school's little multipurpose room. Leo wasn't even embarrassed for very long. Because she looked so proud and excited at what he did.

And after what _she_ did; he was proud to be her son. And he owed it to her to prove it.

A hint of what could have been a smile flew past Reyna's face."Very well." Leo watched Reyna's eyes flicker to Annabeth's, then to his, where they remained. "We will listen."

**xxxxXxxxx**

The council lasted three hours, not counting bathroom breaks and dinner. (Left over BBQ brought to them by a half asleep Hypnos cabin members, one of which almost passed out in Leo's plate of ribs)

There was a lot of what Annabeth would call: "debating", but Leo would just called "fighting." Especially the parts where every other word out campers mouths from both sides would have been bleeped if the conversation ever aired on _Hephaestus TV._ There were some points during the council that Leo was _glad _that they all had surrendered their weapons. And Octavian nearly wound up with bloody eye sockets from Percy for calling Annabeth several dirty slurs.

There were simply far too many angry, weaponless demigods in one room for a calm, collective meeting.

But they had managed to decide on a few things, despite a few broken ear drums and permanent tinnitus.

It was agreed upon that Leo Valdez had been possessed by a Eiderdown and had subsequently _not_ fired the first cannon shot onto New Rome, making no need for there to have been an official retaliation by Reyna and her Legions.

Leo Valdez actually _knew_ all of this from the start. But, it was for the name of peace and love and Bob Dylan songs, so he let it go.

Because of this fact, Reyna declared an official cease fire. And due to what Jason, Frank and Hazel had all undertaken in defeating Gaea, they were no longer deemed traitors and were allowed to return to Camp Jupiter – that is if they wished to do so.

Chiron declared an official ceasefire from Camp Half Blood's side, Percy and Annabeth backing him up. Camp Jupiter Legions would be granted amnesty for the invasion on Half Blood Hill. Dakota and the rest of the wounded Roman campers were to be released to return home to Camp Jupiter as soon as they felt up to it.

This was met with little rejection from both sides. Camp Jupiter preferred to be back home; and Camp Half Blood preferred to be back by themselves as well.

"_It's nothing personal,_ Thanna, a 13-year-old Legion had said. But she had fingered a sling on her shoulder like it _was_ personal.

Percy actually looked guilty at the girl for her broken arm, since he took part in creating the hurricane that knocked her off the Argos. He also came right out and said: "_Sorry for breaking your arm with my hurricane." _Which had sounded like a name for a bad break up song; Thanna had actually managed a laugh, which helped ease some of the tension in the room.

Jason had volunteered to go back to New Rome with Reyna and the others departed. Piper looked betrayed and crushed, until Jason said it was only for a _week_, to help with the clean up in Camp Jupiter and the city of New Rome. He would come back and spent the winter with Camp Half Blood, going back and forth between camps to serve as a liaison between both sets of Demigods. Hazel and Frank agreed to go with Jason when he went back and spend winter with Camp Half Blood as well to have some down time with their friends.

All the Seven had become so close, that the look of relief on said Seven's faces when the three had made their decisions was very obvious. Though Annabeth did do a half decent job of masking it by pretending she was studiously studying her tablet.

Jason also added that while Camp Jupiter had raised him, there were a few things that it didn't have. He eyed Piper when he said this. She blushed, but smiled widely, lacing her fingers through his.

Thalia grinned, and elbowed Jason in the ribs.

It looked to Leo like Reyna was finally kind of okay with Jason and Piper, because she almost broke into a smile at the sight.

Octavian was a harder thing to work on. And by _harder_ Leo meant '_impossible,'_ and '_REALLY impossible'_. Reyna banished him from New Rome for his treachery, and Camp Half Blood looked about as excited to take in an out casted New Roman Refugee as Leo would be to hand over his Archenemies Spheres to Hera.

It was _Percy_ who actually spoke up about the skinny little Arguer. He reminded Camp Half Blood how the first Titan War had all started because Campers felt betrayed by their own families. Octavian was a,-Percy said a lot of expletives that made Hazel fan herself like the temperature had gone up to 98 degrees-but he needed some place to go, even if it wasn't with them.

Leo suggested a volcano.

Hazel suggested Tartarus.

Annabeth actually suggested something logical – Olympus.

To let Zeus determine what was to become of him. Percy seconded Annabeth, volunteering to escort Octavian there. Which made Octavian look at Percy like _he_ had been the one punched in the head. Percy said that Zeus could be hard to reason with when he was angry, and even dirt bags like Octavian deserved a fair shot.

Octavian didn't look too happy about the descriptor, but no one seemed to care.

Annabeth was taking all of this down on her Daldaeus laptop that was currently in iDaledus mini tablet form. She drew up the notes as a sort of contract and passed it around for everyone to sign.

Percy threatened Octavian with shadow traveling on his Hell Hound Mrs. O'Leary when Octavian refused to sign the tablet. The Arguer looked like he didn't know if Percy was serious about having a Hellhound, until he heard a loud baying outside and chicken scratched his name underneath Jason's with a bronze stylus.

Once all the councilors' had signed Annabeth emailed a copy to Hermes via secure iOlympus mail. (Any other form of internet would most likely _literally_ blow up in their faces). She had also printed out a copy over the Big House WiFi for Percy to personally deliver when he went with Octavian.

All those who had participated in the council had taken a vote to adjourn and everyone who was able to walk stretched and spilled out of the Big House and onto the lawn. Will Solace stayed behind to tend to the wounded. Octavian stayed behind as well, under the watchful gaze of Chiron until the time Percy was to travel with him to Olympus.

The few Romans who weren't injured followed Reyna down the steps like a line of Kindergartners casting wary eyes around the campfire and all the noise. But eventually their wariness seemed to fizzle into exhaustion and they all just started looking for a place to sit down, clutching at the weapons they had just been given back and landing with tired heaps onto the logs.

The sun had set by this time and stars were scattered across the inky night like fireflies. The air was still warm, but it had a crisp coolness to it. Seasons had changed while they had been away fighting.

Leo breathed in the night deeply. The campfire in the amphitheatre glowed a bright healthy orange, and smelled like burning cypress wood. Camp Half Blood Campers sat around it singing familiar songs:

'_I am my own great, great, grandfather.'_

'_Go Tell it on Olympus'_

And a new one called:

'_Gaea Got Owned ( Hip-Hop Dance Remix)'_

A lot of Leo's siblings were around the fire, roasting marshmallows, and they jumped up and waved him over.

Percy paused at the bottom of the stairs, and just watched it for a long moment. A young girl in a simple brown shift dress tending the fire waved at him like they were old friends. Though Leo had never noticed her until at Camp until that moment.

Percy waved back.

Hazel looked at the scene with a bit of trepidation, like she wasn't sure if she would be accepted. Frank was holding tight to her hand, trying to be reassuring. But Leo could see that he didn't exactly boast of confidence either.

Well, that wasn't going to work.

"Hey everyone!" Leo shouted and waved over to the fire.

Frank dug a finger into his ear from the loudness of Leo's shout only inches away from him.

Campers turned. Drew from Aphrodite dropped her marshmallow _and_ her stick into the fire with disgust like they didn't match her dress; ignoring Leo to file her nails. Her hair looked patchy in the firelight like pieces of it had been ripped off.

Except for Drew, or as Leo like to call her: _Fellow Camper, but Total Drama Queen,_ the other campers turned at the sound of Leo's voice.

Now that Leo had their attention, he gestured like he was waving the starting flag at the Indy 500. "I want you all to meet some awesome friends of mine-" Leo set a hand on Frank and Hazel's shoulders "Frank Zhang, Son of Mars," and Hazel Lévesque, Daughter of Pluto. The rest of them you know." He gestured dismissively at the others.

"Thanks man, " Jason said.

"_Mars?_ Like Ares, only backwards?" An Ares Camper Leo couldn't remember the name of, gaped. "No way!" She was roasting a marshmallow on a stick and tore into it like it was a turkey drumstick.

Frank and Hazel gave tentative finger waves.

The Ares girl spat a big piece of the stick out of her mouth into the flames, making sparks jump up. "Hey, so is dad just as _wicked_ on the flipside?"

"He's pretty wicked," Frank seemed to test out each word like he was stepping on cracking ice.

"_Awesome!"_ The girl agreed, she caught sight of Percy. "Hey Percy."

"Hey Sady," Percy threw back. He and Annabeth claimed seats around the fire.

"So Frank," Sady delved into her next words without missing a beat and patted the log next to her. "Sit, Bring your girlfriend. I want to hear all about it!"

Frank hesitated for just a moment, but Hazel cut him a look that seemed to say: '_Man up'_ Frank sat down on the log like it was _on_ fire.

"Marshmallow?" Sady thrust a stick at him.

"Uh, thanks," Frank took the stick and picked at the gooey white blob on the end of it, hissing a bit as it burned his fingers.

The Camp Jupiter Legions that were around the fire sat a ways back like it was a segregated event. Not because of any one reason superficially. You couldn't exactly soothe over a hundred years worth of hatred between Greece and Rome in one evening of camp fires and marshmallow roasts.

But it was a start – sorta.

"That's a _bad ass_ tattoo," Sady said to Hazel, seeing the scar on her palm. Hazel had taken her bandage off to let the scar dry out.

Leo had seen TV shows where they did this kind of thing. It was called 'scarification' Designs carved into people's skin with knives to build up scar tissue to form a tattoo. Leo had thought Hazel was joking when she asked Travis to do one on her hand with the piece of wood _inside_ the cut. He was pretty sure even 'life bonding' pieces of firewood could still infect you.

But Hazel went through with it. The tiny little piece of firewood was now permanently attached to her. Connor had made the cuts _wide,_ the scar tissue would be deep. But it would protect the sliver of wood. As long as Hazel was alive, Frank would be too.

Leo thought it was awesome. It also meant that Hazel was now permanently off the market for him, but still, awesome.

"If you want one," Connor brandished a dagger in the firelight. "30 drachmas, 40 for larger designs." He glanced over at Piper who was had taken a seat on a log with Jason. "How about it Pipes? a little _I heart Jason_ action across your boo-"

"I'm gonna go with _'no'_ Connor," Piper cut in. "There's no way I'm letting you near me with pointy objects."

"You don't know what you're missing," Connor twirled the dagger on his hand. He looked over at Annabeth seated on another log, Percy sat on the ground in front of her. "Annabeth?"

"I think I've got enough cuts on this quest Connor, thanks." Annabeth still wore bandages down to her wrists like she had layered a long sleeved shirt under her orange CHB one. The ones under her jeans weren't visible, but everyone knew that they were there.

Percy rubbed her legs over her jeans, leaning the back of his head against her legs. "Ditto."

Connor sobered at Percy and Annabeth's remarks, and put away the dagger.

But a second later he brought out a Ukulele that for some reason he had stashed behind a rock and started to strum it and beat box: "_Good Vibration"_ by Markey Mark.

Travis joined in.

Leo decided to roll with it and brought out a black baseball cap from his tool belt. He put in on backwards and started to do the intro of Markey's rap.

Piper joined in on the female vocals, Percy beat boxed a base beat into his fist.

Leo danced his way over to Reyna who was standing on the outer fringes of the camp fire and started dancing around her like a crazy person.

Reyna drew away like Leo was a leper holding rabid dogs foaming at the mouth. But Leo wasn't fazed, and started in on the: '_You feel it baby? I can too.'_

He yanked her in to the center and started to do the Robot.

"Come on!" Leo moon walked his way around Reyna. "When in Rome-"

"We're on Long Island," Reyna returned, glaring at him like she wanted to stab him in the eyes. She pulled away from Leo and started to back away.

"Fine," Leo danced with himself, busting out his _best_ move. A combination of the Meringue and a pop and lock street dance. He called it: '_mock and lock' _"Be boring Madam Praetor of New Rome. "I'll tell Fun you said Hi."

Reyna shot him a murderous glare. She stepped over to the camp fire. Her Calvary armor was still on and it clanked with an ominous sound. The beat boxing stalled out, the air grew silent. Clarisse and a few of her siblings stood and gripped their weapons.

Reyna walked right up to Leo; her eyes steely, unblinking. Leo reached into his tool belt, but he didn't pull anything out. He had to give Reyna a _chance,_ or all their diplomacy in there would have been for nothing.

Reyna was now nose to nose with Leo. Leo felt himself sweating in places he didn't know _could _sweat.

Reyna took a step back and then, to the surprise of _everyone_, (Leo especially) did a perfect 'Zero G' move, complete with triple spin.

Reyna stood back up to her feet and wiped dirt off her hands. "Fun and I _do_ know each other Leo Valdez, you just have to ask the right questions."

The silence ended after that. Connor and Travis whistled. Clarisse kind of smirked, but Leo couldn't really tell because he was too busy staring at Reyna with wide eyes as she sat on a log with a completely straight face. He was totally stunned into silence.

Percy climbed to his feet and picked up Annabeth's invisible New York Yankees cap that sat beside him on the log. Leo had found the cap in Annabeth's cabin on the Argos two days after she and Percy had jumped into Tartarus. The hat had shorted out months before. So it remained visible in his hands.

"Think you got owned man." Percy said to Leo, sounding like he enjoyed that fact a little too much. He held out his hand to Annabeth."Looks like it's us to us to continue with the diplomacy."

"Percy my ankle's broken," Annabeth reminded him. "And I don't think street dancing had anything to do with diplomacy."

"Street dancing has _everything_ to do with diplomacy Wise Girl," Percy slid the hat on his head, drawing the bill down across his forehead at an angle. "Especially when you got the moves like Jagger."

Annabeth looked at him with a bit of exasperation. "See, that doesn't even make sense!"

"We're alive Annabeth, that makes _total_ sense-" Percy stared at her, hand still extended.

Leo saw that look on Annabeth's face that said _I give up. _She placed her hand in his and he pulled her off the log. He held her securely with an arm around her waist dancing around the same spot with her broken ankle balanced on his cross trainers.

"See?" Percy returned.

Annabeth shook her head at him, which ended into a smile. "Shut up." She set a hand to the side of his face, drawing his forehead down to hers.

Piper jumped up and started the song again, grabbing Jason's hand and bringing him to the center of the logs like it was a prom dance. Jason looked a bit baffled by it all, but fell into step with Piper a moment later. He danced like he was wall dancing in middle school, but Piper didn't complain.

Hazel and Frank started clapping along to the beat, jamming on their log before Hazel took Frank's hand and did a variation of the "Stroll" but with a lot more gyration. Frank looked utterly baffled, but impressed.

Nico remained somewhat in the shadows, but Leo could see the Son of Hades watching the scene with a smirk.

Leo broke into a solitary version of the Robot, he and Piper picking up the song where they left off. Piper was no Opera singer, but she had surprisingly good vocal range.

The other campers around the fire started to follow suit and the resulting impromptu dance party gave them an hour of escape from war and trauma. During that time they weren't Camp Half Blood or Camp Jupiter. They were just a group of kids who didn't know how to dance, but sure as Hades didn't let that stop them.

Eventually Mr. D came stomping out of the Big House demanding what they were all doing out after curfew killing goats.

"_Good Vibrations"_ pattered out into silence when Chiron came behind Mr. D and told Percy that Zeus was expecting him and Octavian.

The fire began to glow down, but it still remained orange.

Percy still held onto Annabeth. "I won't be long-" he placed the hat on her head, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"I know you won't," Annabeth said, matter-of-fact. "Because I'm coming with you."

"_That, is out of the question."_

The voice came from the outer edges of the dining pavilion. The firelight was unable to reach it, but there was still a faint glow.

A woman stood there in a white blouse and jeans with dark gray eyes like Annabeth's.

Annabeth gaped. "_Mother?"_


	21. Annabeth 11

**ANNABETH**

In the end Annabeth hadn't been able to go with Percy. Athena had zapped him up to Olympus in a glow that blasted the pavilion and the entire Big House with light. When she was able to see again, Percy was gone.

Annabeth had nearly killed her mother and hyperventilated at the same time. She felt like she was having a mini PTSD attack.

"Child, calm yourself," Athena pushed her back down on a log and waved away Jason who was trying to come to her aid. "I wish to be alone with my daughter, cousin." She said it like she was dismissing an servant.

Jason backed away, but he didn't exactly looked thrilled about it.

"_Where is he?"_ Annabeth's voice sounded high and raspy. Spots were dancing in front of her eyes.

"The boy is safe," Athena said. "He is in the Throne Room with Zeus as we speak with that skinny one."

"Why did you do that?!" Annabeth shouted at Athena.

"Because you and I have things to discuss my child."

"I have nothing to say to you!" Annabeth screamed. All the resentment and pain she felt from Athena ordering her on the Quest for the Parthos; and falling into Tartarus when she was _so close_ to bringing it back, it all came to the surface. "You told me to avenge you mother. I did _everything _ you asked for and you didn't come!" Annabeth felt herself shaking. "I prayed to you and you didn't come to help us-" She knew it wasn't logical. Tartarus was too far away for the powers of Olympus, but in that moment she suddenly understood what drove Luke to side with Kronos during the first war.

"I was not myself, I was split between two sides, between two worlds." Athena said it as calmly as if it were nothing significant. "And even if I was, daughter, you, more than any of my children know that Tartarus is out of reach for the gods." Athena spoke like she was wisdom herself. But then her expression shifted from haughty and proud, to someone who looked like they had gone through a war. "But you have ended that, you and that _boy-"_

"_Percy,"_ Annabeth said his name like it was life.

"Fine," Athena relented. "Percy. You and he," Athena looked round the campfire like she was a teacher addressing a room full students. "You all have ended the canker on our worlds. Gaea will no longer rise again to destroy mankind and the Gods." Athena turned and the statue of the _Athena Parthos_ seemed to glow like it was on fire in her presence. "I have come to personally escort the _Parthos_ to Mt. Olympus where it will take its rightful place among the Gods. This is yourdoing Annabeth. You have restored my birthright. And for that, my child, I owe you my thanks."

Annabeth had finally gotten her wish. Her mother looked like she was back to her old self, in jeans and a white blouse, long hair braided intricately, eyes penetrating. She showed no schizophrenic flashes of her Roman counterpart. Athena was herself again, and she was accepting her back.

But Annabeth wasn't thinking about any of that. She could only focus on one thing. "I want him back mother, _bring him back!"_

"In due time Annabeth. Right now the boy has a job to do."

"_NOW!" _ Annabeth had never shouted so violently at Athena before.

The gray spots in front of her eyes started to eat her vision.

"Lady Athena!" She heard Piper call from somewhere in the gray areas. "Please, you don't know what they've been through-bring him back-"

Other voices began to protest with Piper's

"Mother," Annabeth was in full on hyperventilation mode now. She gripped her mother's arm like a child clinging to skirts. "Please, I need him!"

"I know child." Athena reached out her hand to Annabeth and it was the last thing she felt before she lost consciousness.

**xxxxXxxxx**

Annabeth blinked into a gray morning filtering out her window. Her face was pressed into a pillow on her bunk, and something warm was pressed into her back.

Annabeth felt a bandaged hand trace up and down the skin of her arm.

"Percy," she squirmed to remove her face from a mass of cotton covered Pegasus down. "Percy-"

"Shh," The bandaged hand moved up to stroke her hair. "Right behind you Wise Girl." She felt a kiss on her neck. "It's okay-"

Annabeth rolled over and found Percy lying next to her, stretched out on her little camp bunk.

"Gods-" Annabeth scooted over and reached for him. "Are you okay?" She pressed herself into his chest, inhaling his scent.

Percy's arms encircled her waist. "I'm okay."

Annabeth made a noise that would've sounded pathetic if she allowed herself to admit to it. She ferreted into his body like she wanted to hide. "Percy-"

Percy kissed her forehead. "We're together, alright?"

She raised her head at his touch. His green eyes glowed like miniature lanterns in the early morning light. "Athena got me back here an hour ago and I snuck in here to find you after Jason said she zapped you to sleep." He brushed the hair back from her eyes, his dark brows turned down in concern.

"Wait-" Annabeth remembered Athena touching her, but not much else."She _zapped_ me to sleep?"

"Jason said you were freaking out and Athena did it to 'calm you' – not my words though Wise Girl." Percy added to the scowl Annabeth knew she must be wearing.

Annabeth groaned and dropped her head back down to his chest, so that the end of her groan was muffled by his shirt.

She felt him rub her back in long circles, and was content to lay there and let him do until her heart rate slowed down.

After about 15 minutes like this, she finally pulled up into a sitting position. Percy griped tightly to one of her hands as she sat up on the bunk.

"Where's Octavian? What happened?" Annabeth crossed her legs underneath her. She searched Percy's face for any kind of hints as to what had gone one in Olympus.

"He's gone," Percy returned.

Annabeth's eyes widened in complete confusion. _"Gone?_ What are you talking about?"

"He's been adopted by a local family in some little town in Kansas."

"Who?-" Percy's answer didn't satisfy her. It only added more questions. "What do you mean _local family?_ Who adopts crazy Roman Arguers?"

"Apparently Zeus has connections with mortal parents who 'adopt' troubled demigods and keep them away from the demigod scene for 'an undetermined amount of time'." Percy made air quotes around the last part. "That was the _plea bargain_ sentence from Olympus. Zeus actually wanted to smite him into a puddle of black ooze, but I managed to talk him out of it."

"What about monsters?" Annabeth questioned. "Sending Octavian out in the mortal world _alone- _I hate Octavian as much as the next guy, but I don't want him killed, at least not at the moment."

"Apparently this place is a pig farm in the middle of Nowheresville," Percy wrinkled his nose like it both sounded odd and like he could smell the pigs on said farm. "It's supposed to stink so much that it masks demigod scents against monsters. They do chores on the farm, and grow their own food. It's supposed to build character."

"What if Octavian decides to just _leave?"_ Annabeth asked, her head swimming with strangeness of a Behavior Modification Camp for Demigods.

"There aren't any cars, or even _bicycles._ And it's a full day's walk to any place with human inhabitation." Percy returned like what he just said was as crazy of a notion as eating corn with your feet. Even though he readily got around without human transportation on Quests, Annabeth knew that he preferred at least a Pegasus to walking everywhere. "Octavian doesn't look like the kind of guy used to living totally in the mortal world. Plus he has the curse of Pluto now. If he _does_ leave," Percy broke off, like he didn't want to think about it. Not like he was scared of Octavian, but like he was scared of what might _happen_ to him. "He's on his own," Percy's loyalty was his Fatal Flaw; even concerning his enemies. "Hecate was right; everyone deserves life, even him. I just," Percy sighed. "I just hope-"

Annabeth placed a finger to his lips. "I know," she leaned over and kissed him. His lips were salty, body warm against hers. She drew her arms up behind his back, the sounds of birds echoing out of the window.

**xxxxXxxxx**

The sun had risen fully over the canoe lake by the time Annabeth ventured outside her Cabin. Percy was close behind her, hand linked in hers so that she only had to walk with the aid of one crutch.

The camp was starting to wake up. Canoes bumped around on the docks; Nymphs had their heads poked out of the lake, brushing their hair with fishbone combs. Half Blood campers stumbled out of their respective cabins in their pajamas heading towards the dining pavilion to grab breakfast. Annabeth saw a few Roman Campers intermixed with them, looking a little bedraggled from choosing to sleep in their armor. But still some of them were even smiling, or at least not looking like they wanted to bolt for home. Some injured campers from both Half Blood Hill and Camp Jupiter were spilled out of the Big House and onto a makeshift MASH like set up on the long porch. Will Solace was up there with them handing out little juice boxes of Nectar.

Breakfast at the pavilion was set up like a buffet. White checkered tables sat in the center over the unlit fire pit, with a long line of bagels, bacon, eggs, and fruit for those Vegetarian Demigods. The scent of coffee and wine wafted through the dining pavilion. The second was due to the Camp Director Dionysus appearing in the pavilion decked out in a purple velour leopard patterned velour jogging suit.

Mr. D had been 'recalled to Olympus' during all the fighting. At least that's what Percy said the Wine God claimed his story was after his meeting with Zeus. He took a sip of his Diet Coke from his golden goblet, watching everything like it was a cool new show on Hephaestus TV.

Piper was standing at the end of the table, scooping watermelon and cantaloupe into a bowl. She started to reach for the blueberry bagel from the giant multi bagel tower that was teetering on a bronze plate.

Annabeth reached right over and snatched the bagel from under Piper's hovering hand. "_So-"_

Piper turned just in time to see Annabeth take a big bite out of the bagel.

"Annabeth!" Piper set her bowl of fruit down so fast some cantaloupe wound up on her sneakers. She hugged her. "Are you okay?"

Annabeth nodded and swallowed.

Piper eyed her critically. "After Athena touched you, you just _fell over_. I thought," The eagle feather in Piper's hair quivered like it was being used to balance an arrow that had just hit a tree. "I mean, I know she's your mom. But after everything we just went through- I," Piper closed her mouth, eyes flickering from Annabeth to Percy. "I kinda don't want anything else to happen."

"That makes three of us," Percy insisted. "I've had my fill of monsters, and evil dirt goddesses, for at least 80 years," Percy turned his head up to the sky that was streaked with red and orange hues like a swirled sherbet. "_80 years guys! _Think you can manage that?"

"_That depends."_

The voice was from over by the fire pit, which stood unlit in the predawn hours. A few campers on the logs surrounding it, eating their breakfast balanced on their laps on paper plates.

Athena stood leaning against one of the benches for the Hephaestus campers. Connor Stoll had been sitting inches away from where Athena had materialized, and backed away, clutching at his hot pink iced doughnut like the Goddess would steal it.

Athena stood erect and walked through the grass to towards them. She was still wearing a white blouse, but she had changed from long jeans to shorts and hiking boots; her blonde hair French braided down her back. A brown backpack was slung over one shoulder and she carried a bronze staff in her right hand.

"Mother-" Annabeth found herself feeling winded as Athena neared them, stopping a foot in front of the tables.

"I trust you are feeling better this morning Annabeth," Athena's eyes were just like Annabeth's: steely and gray, and swirling like a vortex. Annabeth felt her mother stare into parts of her _she _didn't know existed.

"Yes," Annabeth returned with nothing more than that. After what had happened last night, it was all she felt that she could say.

Percy drew an arm across Annabeth's shoulders, and pulled her closer to him.

The gesture wasn't lost on Athena. She flicked her eyes to Percy. "Perseus."

"Athena," Percy's voice was civil. But there was just enough of an undercurrent of hostility in his voice visible to Annabeth.

"I apologize boy," Athena said to Percy, which made Percy's eyebrows about explode out of his head.

"My methods of transportation to send you to Olympus were a bit _rushed. _ Perhaps I overstepped-"

Annabeth could _hear _ the: 'Geez, you think?' waiting to bust out of Percy's mouth. But she heard him take a deep breath through clenched teeth and say instead: "It's done Athena, let's just call it even for me dating Annabeth without your permission." Percy returned.

Athena almost looked impressed. "Fair enough."

"Not that it ever mattered to me," Percy cut in, his personality having been silent for far too long already. "Because I love your daughter Lady Athena; and that's never going to change. Gaea couldn't separate us, and no disrespect, but you can't either."

Gods, Annabeth loved him for saying that.

Athena's impressed look fell away to a stonier one, she had smited people for saying less. She looked Percy up and down like she was appraising a piece of furniture. "Perhaps you are not as dull witted as I originally thought. Your _relationship, _" Athena sniffed like she had sinus drainage. "with my daughter may not be as hopeless of a thing as I feared."

Percy actually looked satisfied with that remark.

"In return for my compliments," Athena pretended she didn't see the look Percy shot her. "I am requesting to speak to Annabeth in private. I will not _zap_ either of you anywhere cousin," Athena said to the daggered look and half opened mouth protest Percy gave her. "I merely wish to speak with my daughter alone."

Percy looked like he wanted to refuse, but in the end he removed his arm off her shoulder like it physically hurt him to be separated from her. Annabeth knew that it was physically hurting _her. _ ""I'll be right over there, okay?" Percy kissed her and slipped his hand from her like it was flowing water.

Even though Percy was only walking to the other side of the pavilion, Annabeth watched him and Piper the entire time until they took a seat at Zeus's head table where Jason and Thalia sat on opposite sides.

Mr. D stood glowered at them from over the rim of Diet Coke filled wine goblet. Even after a major battle at Camp, Mr. D was a stickler for the rules.

Annabeth watched al this happening for the longest moment; avoiding looking Athena in the eye until the Goddess not so subtly cleared her throat.

"I am returning to Olympus to deliver the Pathos," Athena jiggled the pack behind her. At first Annabeth couldn't understand _why,_ But then she saw the _Athena Pathos, _shrunk to the size of a vase, peaking out of the flaps of the bag. In the presence of her mother the little statue seemed to glow like a florescent light, it even hummed like one.

"You have done what I asked Annabeth, what no other child of mine was able to undertake. You have avenged the injustice committed centuries ago and have restored-"

"Thank you mother," Annabeth cut Athena off. Seven years of hanging around Percy had rubbed off on her. "I'm proud that the _Parthos_ can be returned to Olympus. It deserves its rightful place. But-" Annabeth paused for a moment where she would've bitten her lip if she were that kind of girl. "It's just a statue-"

Athena's face turned into a look that Annabeth recognized, because it was one she often wore herself. "It is more than a _statue_, child." Athena reached back and pulled the miniaturized statue that from her pack, holding it in both hands."It is an ultimate tribute to the Gods, to my wisdom." She presented it to Annabeth like an offering. "Because of your heroics with Perseus; there may come a time where you will be designing your own immortalization."

Annabeth stared at the _Athena Parthos. _"What if that isn't what I want?"

"What do you mean Annabeth?"Athena looked at her with a hard, penetrating gaze. "You have shown an affinity for architecture for years, you are the chief architect of Olympus-"

A shot of laughter erupted from behind them. Annabeth turned away from Athena and followed the noise to its source. The Hermes cabin table, where the Stoll Brothers were tossing a lit fire cracker around like it was a football. Leo and his Hephaestus siblings were just as loud from their table fiddling with the Archimedes Spheres Leo had recovered. Leo was on the receiving end of many slaps on the back from his siblings as one of the spheres transformed into a small biplane that flew over to the buffet table to retrieve more sausages.

"I love architecture Athena; and I still have an affinity towards it, a very strong one. But _we're_ the ultimate tribute to the gods," Annabeth saw Reyna overseeing the fixing of broken weapons by members of her Legions. "_All_ the children born from Olympians. I don't want to be immortalized mother; I want to leave my mark on the world by _living_ in it."

When Annabeth met Athena's gaze again her mother looked like she was about to protest, perhaps, _literally _knock some sense into Annabeth. But a moment came where the Goddesses' look softened, like the waves that had constantly shifted and buffered the Dover cliffs until the land conceded and became what the water wanted it to be all along.

"You are nearly 18 now my daughter, no longer a girl. You possess the right to live the life you desire."

"Thank you Lady Athena," Annabeth returned. It was the first time that anyone had ever referred to her as an adult, let alone her Olympic Goddess mother. It was both a rewarding and humbling feeling because there were times that she thought she wouldn't live long enough to grow up.

Athena gazed over at Poseidon's table where both Percy _and_ Piper were sitting eating breakfast, laughing at what was no doubt some lame joke of Percy's. It was against Camp Rules for camp tables to intermingle. But, of course Percy never cared much for rules.

"But I also possesses the right as your mother to offer my wisdom-"

"I love him mother," Annabeth returned, as simple and as complex as all that encompassed was."Sometime wisdom has to concede to more powerful things."

Athena signed like a Minotaur and rolled her eyes before she could hide it. "I am running late daughter. Please inform that _Poseidon Boy_ that I will not instantly vaporize him where he stands if he does not screw this up."

A warm light began to glow around where Athena stood and Annabeth closed her eyes and turned her gaze away. When she opened them again her mother was gone, and something small lay on the ground where she stood. Annabeth reached down and plucked a small silver pendant from the dew damp grass. It was in the shape of an barn owl, carved in the silver so intricately that the feathers were visible.

The back was flat and was carved with the Greek words:

_Thank you Daughter._

Annabeth ran a thumb over the carving. Athena would never say things of that nature out loud

A familiar touch rested on her shoulder.

"Everything okay?" Percy slipped his free arm around her waist.

"Yeah," Annabeth reassured. She still clutched the pendant and Percy eyed the little thing.

"I didn't miss your birthday or anything did I?"

Annabeth laughed. Leave it to Percy to interject humor into things. But she loved him for many reasons, and that was one of them.

"You know if you have to _ask_ if you missed my birthday Seaweed Brain, then the answer is most likely _yes."_

"Hey we missed my birthday this year, " Percy interjected. "So I figured you'd let me off the hook."

A shared look past between them, remembering things they would rather not, screams, blood, pain.

Annabeth took his hand and drew closer to him, and Percy pulled her closer. His blue hoodie smelled like camp sausage and blue waffles. She breathed it in. "I love you Percy."

"Love you too Wise Girl," he kissed the top of her head. "Forever, remember?"

"Hey guys!" Leo's voice rang like a struck bell in a bell tower. "Who feels like losing bad at stupid Mythomagic Cards?"

Annabeth pulled away and looked up at Percy.

Percy shrugged: "Why not?"

He helped her maneuver her over to Poseidon's table where Leo had decided to break camp rules along with Piper and was sitting beside her.

Annabeth sat on the edge of the bench, until Percy pulled her back up and took her seat. She glared until he pulled her into his lap, then her glare toned down to a quieter thing because she wasn't above liking sitting like this.

Jason was leaning over Piper's shoulder thumbing through a large array of cards with different images of the Gods as well as their listings of points.

"Play that one," Jason whispered overly loud to Piper.

Piper kicked him from underneath the bench and turned over a card, groaning a second later at the sight of a sheep playing a golden Lyre. She looked up at Jason with a guilty expression. "Guess we won't be going out for Italian before you have to leave." She stared with a sigh at all the money she had just lost, a combination of drachmas and five dollar bills.

"Don't worry about it Pipes," Jason rubbed her shoulders with his hands. "We'll do something cooler; like get your money back after Leo falls asleep."

"You can try," Leo grinned back, wagging his eyebrows, and doing a bit of a jig under the table if the sound of his tool belt clanking around was any indication.

Before last night, Annabeth seen Leo be in a really good mood since before they left for Rome. As off the wall as Leo could be sometimes, she was glad that _Old Leo _ was back.

"Alright!" Leo rubbed his hands together. "Pipes is out of this dumb little kiddie game for cash-"

"Please stop calling the game stupid, or variations of it." Nico interjected. He sat across from Leo with an array of cards spread out in front of him like a flush hand at a Poker Game. "I happen to _like _it."

"So you're a nerd?" Leo returned. "And you're about to face my wrath!" He turned over a card with a familiar looking Lighting Bolt on it, laughing maniacally like the wicked queen in 'Snow White'

It wasn't a bad rendition either since Annabeth had seen the real thing.

Percy pushed the card around with his hand. "It looks bigger in real life."

At least _she_ didn't think it was a bad rendition.

Nico pondered over his cards like a professional gambler.

"Anytime today DiAngelio," Leo returned. "I have plans."

Annabeth couldn't help but notice how Leo cast a glance at Reyna when he said this. She was helping Legionnaires pack up their weapons into long roll skin bags. Reyna must have felt Leo watching her because she flicked her eyes up, and there was something in the way she returned Leo's glance.

Leo caught Annabeth watching him and his ears did a fantastic impression of Frank Zhang's and turned bright red. "With ship. Building. _Repairing_ the ship. I have plans repairing the building ship."

"What's a building ship?" Hazel's voice came from over Percy's shoulder as the she stepped behind Percy, leaning over him to watch what was going on. "Is that a strategy for playing this game?" Hazel's voice was genuinely confused. She was a very intelligent demigod; but she had lived most of her life in the 1930's.

Leo cleared his throat like he had sinus drainage. "I'll tell you later."

Nico finally flipped one of his cards over and a Apollo stared up at him with the same smug grin that the _real _ Apollo wore. He even had on a pair of dark Ray Bans. Nico smiled looking pleased. "I think that means you lose Leo."

"No! How can that be?" Leo stared dumbfounded at his cards "I had _Zeus's Master Bolt AND Medusa!"_

"It's just a dumb little kiddie game remember?" Nico's smile grew smug, he held out his hand. "I believe that's five drachma."

Leo stared at the cards spread out in front of him like they were personally responsible for ruining his life. He slammed five bronze coins onto the table top next to all the cash.

Nico gathered the pot of money towards him. "And I believe that _this _is mine." He separated the cash and a handful of drachmas and handed them to Piper.

"Thank _you,"_ Piper took her money back, all except for two drachmas. "Pleasure doing business with you Nico."

Leo stared at her. "You _knew_ he was a card shark at this?"

Piper nodded, folding up her money and sliding all of it in her pocket. "Percy told me."

Leo turned his stare to Percy who wasn't even trying to keep the grin off his face.

"Dude, what do you think we talked about when I first met him?" Percy questioned. "_Soap Operas?" _

Percy and Nico shared a laugh at this.

"Mythomagic was all I was into a kid Leo," Nico was counting his winnings like a pirate captain. "Well that and Annabeth," Nico shot Annabeth a glance. "I was right about her and Percy then too."

Annabeth couldn't volley anything back, because sitting on Percy's lap in full view of everyone, it was kinda obvious.

Leo dropped his head and repeatedly banged it on the picnic table top, making Nico's winnings bounce around on the table. "Tell me again why I put up with you people?" Leo said when he came up for air from head banging.

"Because we're awesome?" Frank ventured. He was helping Nico count his earnings and Nico forked over a handful of drachmas for his trouble.

Leo raised his head. "No it's not that." He looked over at Frank, then at all of them sitting beside him. "It's because you're family."

Annabeth wanted to strangle Leo at the beginning of this quest. But now she only wanted to agree.


	22. Percy 11

**xxxxxXxxxxxx**

"_If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself."_

~"Percy Jackson" The Lightning Theif

**xxxxxXxxxxx**

**Epilogue**

**PERCY**

My name is Percy Jackson.

I'm 25-years-old.

And up until a few months ago, I was a pretty calm guy. I had my days, everyone does. But it all evened out in the long run. I defeated monsters and Titan Lords before I could legally vote and rent a car after all.

Had that changed?

Yeah, you could say that.

Today I seemed to be classifying myself for the "Idiot Awards." And that was pretty damn hard list to make considering my less than gold starred past.

The traffic of downtown Manhattan was already alive with noise, even though it was only 8 am.

And I was a biggest part of the noise.

Who said you couldn't drive a car on the sidewalk? Stupid people that's who.

Well that and Annabeth.

"Percy!" Annabeth shrieked. "For Hades sake, _slow down!_ If you kill us, I will reincarnate myself _so_ far away from you-!" Annabeth broke away to hiss and grab at her stomach. Which had also undergone a giant change, in that it was _giant _now, and smashed against the dashboard.

I turned to my wife, who didn't look at all comfortable jammed up next to the glove compartment. "You okay baby?"

"Yes I'm fine," Annabeth yelled at me through gritted teeth. "I'm also not _due_ until next month. And you're just making my heartburn worse. So can we please drive like normal people?"

I was about to volley back with a '_We're not normal'_ remark when a voice called me from the backseat.

"Daddy?"

Our son Luke, all gray eyes and dark hair looked at me inquisitively. "Aw we race?"

"No sweetie, we're not racing," Annabeth turned to him strapped in his car seat. "Daddy is just being a poopy head at the moment."

"If we're late Leo will kill me," I returned, swerving a hard left past a city bus trying to pick up passengers at a curbside stop. Seriously, people just needed to get cars.

"Not if I kill you first," Annabeth growled at me, righting herself back into the front seat. "Leo and Reyna have waited this long Seaweed Brain; they won't die waiting a little longer."

"See, now you jinxed it." I returned, and ducked when Annabeth smacked me on the head.

There are thickly lined scars on both her arms from the attack by the skeleton warriors. Annabeth refused to wear make up to cover them up. She said she doesn't want to forget what happened because in spite of everything, she survived.

My iPhone rings in the cup holder. I check the caller ID and answer it.

"Hey."

"Is it Leo?" Annabeth asked.

I shook my head and mouthed: '_Hazel.'_

"Yeah we're almost there, sorry. Luke decided to flush his diaper down the toilet this morning."

"I made poo in the potty!" Luke cut in with his own commentary and clapped his hands.

"And, well, my plan didn't work-"

I pulled the phone back from my ear at Hazel's irritation. "Calm down woman! I'm the Son of Poseidon, I _thought_ shooting water from the toilet bowl would get it out . How was I to know it would flood the apartment with poo water?"

Annabeth raised her hand beside me.

I ignored her.

"C'mon Hazel, you can't tell me that Frank has never done anything like that when plumbing backs up at your apartment? – Calling a plumber is a cowards way out!"

Hazel verbally spars my ears off. "Okay, yeah, we'll be there in a few, tell the guys to wait. Love you too, bye."

"Dat Aunty Hay?"

"Yeah buddy, I said to my son," That was Aunty Hay," I personally find it adorable when the kid calls Hazel 'Aunty Hay'. Piper is 'Aunty Pip-ah, there's Re Re (Reyna), CC (Clarisse) Then there's Uncles Jay, Nika (Nico), Leo and Chris are easy ones, and Uncle Frank, who's name pronouncement by Luke sounded so much like a certain four letter word that it got us called into his daycare for a conference. So he just called 'Unca' now.

"Are you excited to see Uncle Leo and Aunt Re Re tie the knot?" I asked Luke.

"Knots?" Luke blinked at me at looked down at his shoe laces, which he _tied_ himself. Kid's so much like his mother it scares me. He waved his foot in the air.

"Daddy means they're getting married." Annabeth clarified to the three-year-old.

Luke blinked at her, little hands clasped together with a look that said: "_go on." _ It was so like the godfather I had to smile. My kid is awesome.

"It's when two people love each other so much they decide to stay with each other forever." Annabeth caught my eye when she said this. "Like me and daddy."

I reached over and grabbed her hand, tracing the scar on her wrist. It was horrific yes, but it reminds me of how strong she is, how I wouldn't trade her for anything.

And she was looking pretty damn good in that little blue number she had on, so bonus.

We crossed over into Long Island without incident. Because it was early Saturday morning the traffic was too horrible on the bridges. I finally slowed the car down to Annabeth's deemed: '_normal pace'_ and promptly got honked at by everyone behind me.

I was going to say" '_see?'_ to my wife. But she was a little busy making a lewd Greek hand gesture out her window to the powder blue Toyota that was honking behind us. Thank the Gods Luke doesn't know what that means yet.

"I think New York is rubbing off on you too much Wise Girl."

Annabeth stuck her head back in the car. "No, _you're_ rubbing off on me Seaweed Brain."

"You say that like it's a bad thing baby." I took a minute to stare at her smoothing out the fabric of her long blue strapless dress. Her long blonde curls hung long over her bare shoulders. The little owl Athena gave her after the war hung from the camp necklace that she still wore around her neck.

Annabeth caught me looking at her. "What?"

"Nothing."

Saying nothing to a Daughter of Athena didn't work. "Percy, what is it?"

"You're just beautiful is all."

Annabeth's hands stilled their movements, and she stared at me in disbelief. "Seaweed Brain, I'm as big as a Hippocampus!"

"My point stands." I returned.

Annabeth reached over the gear shift to squeeze my hand. Her wedding band was cold against my skin. "Thank you Jackson." She kissed me over the flashing turn signal as I took the next exit towards the point we all agreed to meet at before we made it to Camp where Leo was (surprise!) getting married to Reyna. Peace talks between them went really, _really_ well.

I whole heartily returned the kiss. "You're welcome Jackson."

"Mommy, look! Kitty!" Luke shouted behind us.

"That's nice baby," Annabeth remarked to our son from over my lips.

A _thump_ shook car and yanked us apart.

A giant golden monster touched down on the road five feet in front of us. It had the front end of a lion, the middle part of a goat, and the back end of a snake. So basically, it was just u-g-l-y.

The Chimera sniffed the air like it could sense Annabeth and I, and turned its head towards our car.

Luke stared out the windshield at it. "_Biiig_ kitty."

The monster let lose a wail like a cat that was eating a bagful of mice. Its forepaws broke up the asphalt in front of us, sending chunks of it smashing through our windshield.

I threw my arm over Annabeth to protect her from the debris.

Thank the Gods we were now on a two lane side road near Camp Half Blood, so there were only three cars besides ours. A red pickup truck did a doughnut at the sight of whatever the monster looked like to them, and turned around. The other two laid on their horns and zoomed past like the Chimera was just a slow moving semi.

The Chimera stared at the cars like they were windup toys, but didn't chase after them. Obviously two demigods were the preferred meal choice.

I removed my dark blue suit jacket and loosened my tie, pulling Riptide out of my pocket.(It had been retrieved from a crumbling bit of intact rock face in Archane's lair in Rome. But that's another story.)

I unbuttoned my shirt collar and turned to Annabeth. "Stay with Luke!"

"What?" Annabeth growled. "Not a chance in Hades!"

I jumped out of the car, hearing Annabeth call out to me as I ran down the broken up road towards the monster.

"Hey!" I screamed and the Chimera turned with a face that said: '_Mmm, breakfast!'_ "I kind of have somewhere I need to be pal, so do you mind saving the demolition for another day?"

The Chimera seemed to sit on that for a moment, and then leapt into the air, trying to take my head off with its beak.

"Guess that means 'no'?" I slashed at it with Riptide. But the Chimera swooped back and did a weird kind of roll in mid air like it was trained. It snapped at me again with its razor sharp beak.

"Good boy," I slashed with Riptide. "Now roll over and play dead!" My sword found a home in one of its wings.

The monster roared and bucked and nailed me right in the chest with one of its front lion's paws. It felt like getting gutted by a 100 pound dumb bell. I ended up flat on the road, feeling like I'd cracked a rib. Stars danced in front of my eyes.

"_Percy!"_ Annabeth ran towards me in bare feet since she took her shoes off for the ride. The new dagger that I had given her for her 18th birthday to replace her old one was out in her hand.

"Annabeth!" I wheezed. "Stay back!"

The Chimera wailed somewhere very near me. It's hot breath blew inches away from my face.

"Don't touch my husband you lion, goat, snake freak!" Annabeth slashed with her dagger and the Chimera roared, it's body blocking Annabeth from my sight.

"Annabeth!" I propelled myself to my feet, searching for my pregnant wife amidst the mass of scales and feathers.

An arrow pierced the Chimera right in the ass. It screamed, which I didn't blame it for. Arrow enemas tended to be quite painful.

The Chimera turned, the arrow sticking out of its butt. Right into the face of Piper who was wearing a dark purple bridesmaid's dress with a quiver of arrows on her back and her war bow in her hand.

The Chimera roared at her.

"I don' t think so!" Jason's voice made the Chimera turn again. He was wearing a black suit with a tie that matched the color of Piper's dress, his sword out on his hand. "Reyna will kill us if we show up with shredded clothes." Jason jumped on the Chimera's back.

The monster bucked at him like he was a bronco. I finally caught sight of Annabeth behind the Chimera's long, curved snake tail. She looked dirty, but unhurt, slashing at the Chimera's back legs with her blade.

Even with four demigods on it, the Chimera put up one Hades of a fight. It threw Jason off, but he ducked into a roll on the asphalt.

I slashed high and took off one of the Chimera's wings. It finally got the hint and started to dissolve into dust. Jason cut through the other wing. And I started to feel a little bad for the thing because it looked a little goggle eyed as it melted into Monster powder.

Finally the Chimera was nothing but a pile of gold dust like we'd had a spur of the moment party in the middle of nowhere.

"Annabeth!" I ran over to where my wife stood clutching her knife and breathing hard. "Are you okay?" I cupped her face, checking her over for injuries.

"I'm fine," Annabeth reassured, grasping my wrists. Her eyes widened. "Oh Gods, _Luke!"_

She took off in a run to our dark blue Ford Ranger. I was inches behind her. The car sat right where we left it. Besides the holes from the flying bits of asphalt, it looked completely untouched. But my heart still pounded like a base drum.

Annabeth tore open the passenger side door. Luke was still strapped in his car seat, bouncing up and down in peals of laughter. "Dat was fun!"

Annabeth unhooked him and snatched him up. "Are you okay baby?"

Luke just smiled in answer.

I threw my arms around my wife and son, holding them both.

Luke looked completely unhurt. He squirmed from Annabeth's grasp and stared up at me. "Do again daddy!"

"Oh no!" Annabeth returned, grasping him more securely. "We've had enough monster attacks for today, thank you!"

Luke actually looked unhappy at this and made '_uh'_ noises. "More monstahs!"

"Mommy's right dude," I told him.

"_More!"_ Luke started to wail like I was denying him ice cream.

A blur of dark brown cut through the air like a jet plane. A beautiful roan colored horse emerged from the wind with Hazel and Frank on its back. Arion touched down by our car. He looked at the road and snorted at me.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," I told the Spirit Horse.

"Aunty Hay!" Luke shouted excitedly.

Hazel jumped down in a matching bridesmaid dress like Piper. Frank slid down from behind her. He wore the same suit that Jason did, and his hair looked totally windswept.

"Holy Pluto!" Hazel ran over to us, her dark curls bouncing with her pace. "Is everyone okay?"

"Aunty Hay!" Luke squirmed and jumped up and down like Annabeth's arms were a bouncy house. "Monstahs! Monstahs fun!"

"Just a little Chimera attack," I reassured Hazel feeling my sore ribs. "We're fine."

Annabeth passed Luke to Hazel who practically _jumped_ into her arms. She reached around to the netted pocket slung over the driver's seat and handed me a square of Ambrosia we kept in a plastic baggie next to Luke's _Baby Einstein's DVD's._ and a pack of _Wet Wipes._

I bit into the square and the taste of mom's homemade blueberry waffles and that burnt cupcake Annabeth made me when we first started going out explode don my tongue. The tight choking pain of my ribs eased up.

"I'm okay," I reassured my wife, rubbing her shoulders. I then had to duck from the blow she dealt my shoulder.

"What the _Hades_ was that-?"

"Baby, not in front of the boy." I insisted looking at Luke who waved at me.

Annabeth glared at me. "You could've been _killed!"_

"I could say the same for the pregnant woman trying to take on a monster in bare feet." I reminded.

Annabeth's opened and closed her mouth like she was a gold fish. She finally stopped looking like she was going to murder me. She took Luke back from Hazel and he started blowing raspberries' in her neck.

Frank stared at the monster dust that littered the ground. A nauseating stench wafted from the dust; like a pile of garbage took a crap and rolled around in it. Frank raised an arm up to his nose. "Can't they make monster dust, I don't know, _cupcake scented_ or something?" He was a few inches taller than me as me now at 20. A student at UCLA studying, of all things _Zoology._ He said its helping him with his animal transformations.

And it has. He hasn't become a giant Koi in at least six months. He _has_ become Hazel's live in boyfriend. And as a substitute self proclaimed big brother to Hazel, I couldn't be happier. Though I _did_ have to read Frank the Riot Act when they moved in together last year. Frank now knows how to turn into dolphin in mid air now thanks to me. Frank knows how to spar hand to hand better. So it all worked out.

A giant Pegasus the size of a small plane landed next to Arion.

Arion was used to this by now so it didn't phase him. He just snorted and started eating some copper piping someone had thrown on the side of the road.

"Re Re Horsie!"Luke got super excited. "Re Re Horsie!"

Reyna slid off the back of Scipio. She was wearing a Roman style robe that was so dark purple it looked like she spilled red wine on herself. Leo jumped down from behind her, in a metallic looking tux that lit up with all along the lapel like Las Vegas.

Luke thrust out arms to Reyna and she picked him up. I never knew the kick-your-balls Praetor of Camp Jupiter had a soft spot for kids until after Luke was born. The kid was nuts about her, and Leo who currently handed him _actual_ metal nuts from his tool belt.

Leo pointed his finger at Luke "No eating them like before."

Luke giggled mischievously and tried to yank the golden laurel from Reyna's hair.

Leo looked at all the monster dust at his feet, then at the rest of us. "If you guys are trying to get out of this, its' not going to work. I tried that last night-I'm _joking,"_ Leo returned to the look Reyna was shooting him.

"You were _drunk_ last night," Jason reminded. " You thought the TV was a Gorgon and smashed through the screen with your mallet."

Piper's eyes widened like she had just learned the truth. "That was _you?"_ She said to Leo.

"Sorry Pipes," Leo held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just learning about this myself."

Leo lowered his hands, but I could still see that he was on guard because Piper was making her '_scary eyes'_ "Relax McClean-Grace, it's not like you and Rachel haven't sold enough paintings to the Met to buy a store's worth of replacements."

"Speaking of Rachel," Annabeth returned. "and Nico. Have we decided if they are coming as each other's dates to this? Because that might piss Apollo off if his Oracle were no longer, um _celibate."_

"They're going as friends," Piper clarified, since Rachel used to be her roommate before she married Jason last year. "Trust me. Nico could be less interested in Rachel _that way._ He's not a crazed hormonal machine like Leo."

"You're welcome." Leo returned.

Reyna kicked a pebble of monster dust away with her sandal. She was still Praetor Camp Jupiter, and recently Mayor of New Rome. Annabeth and I try to visit there every other summer when Annabeth's work schedule and my schedule as a Youth Councilor at the local Y downtown allow it. We're heading down there in a few weeks, one last hurrah before we have _two_ Lukes to deal with.

Don't get me wrong. I love my son, and would die for him in a heartbeat. But he has Annabeth's intelligence, and my ability to get into mischief. It's a potent combination. The diaper incident this morning came on the heels of him finding a way to break into the baby proof cabinets at Mom's house last week. He managed to give Paul a full on hair mouse beard. If this latest kid is anything like his (or her's we want to be surprised this time) older sibling, then we're in so much trouble.

Reyna kicked another '_Monster Nugget'_ and turned to me. "Is there a time when we _haven't_ met over monster dust Percy?"

"Last week at Starbucks," I ventured. "When you told off that snooty barista who asked you if you were old enough to drink espresso."

Reyna smiled at the memory. "I don't know what she was biching at. Her hair will grow back in a few months if she eats a lot of protein."

Leo looked at Reyna with a bit of an overly gooey look in his eyes. "I snagged myself a _great_ woman." He glanced down at his watch, which looked like a combination of a miniature CD, and a sundial. The latest thing from _Leo Enterprises'._ It's a mail order gadget catalog he started, like a _Skystore _for Demigods. He's making a pretty nice piece of change from it. He even has gods and goddesses on his clientele.

Artemis ordered a self shooting bow last month for her annual hunting expedition and raved about it to every Olympain that she saw.

"Now I know it's been a busy morning already with rush hour traffic and monster battles. But I'm here to make a honest woman out of the Mayor of New Rome -" Leo wagged his eyebrows at Reyna. "So you guys need to stick around."

These two have been dating since, like almost immediately after the war. (We stopped asking what the 'noises' were in the Bunker 9 when Reyna visited Camp Half Blood after that time we don't speak about).

Their relationship was so strange to us at first, Reyna looked like she wanted to _eat_ men for dinner after she saw Jason and Piper together. And Leo tended to hit on anything female with a pulse. So I went through a period of not thinking Leo would survive alone with Reyna. But hey, 7 years. I guess I was wrong.

My tie still hung loosely from my neck and had monster blood staining the fabric. My shirt sleeve was torn from the road. But Annabeth handed me my suit jacket and I slid into it and it hid the torn parts. And the monster blood barely showed over stripes of the tie.

Annabeth worked my tie back into a perfect Windsor knot. She smoothed her hands over my chest. "You'll do." She reached her hands around my neck and kissed me.

"Okay you two," Piper said. "No impromptu sex on the road."

"Ditto Pipes," I said pulling back, shooting her and Jason a look.

Piper blushed, but retorted back with: "The grass is not the road!"

Luke looked at me and Aunty Pipah inquisitively. "Daddy, what's se-?"

"_Okay, _that's enough of _that_ topic!_"_ Annabeth cut our son off.

I took Luke from Reyna. "I'll tell you when you can do long division buddy okay?"

Luke looked disappointed for a moment; but then seemed to take it as a challenge. "Okay daddy!"

"Deal." He held out his hand and I high fived it, glancing around at my wife and the rest of my crazy family. "Who's ready to see Unca Leo get married?"

"Me!" Luke held up his hand, and bounced in my arms excitedly. "Pick me!"

Reyna held up her hand, her bronze bracelets jangling and sliding down her arm. "Pick me too."

Leo reached out his arm, and for a second I thought he was going to be romantic and kiss Reyna. But instead he high fived her with a "Yeah Baby!" And Reyna just high fived him back like it was a perfectly normal way to show affection.

"Alright." I slung my arm around Annabeth's shoulders. "Let's do it."

**xxxxXxxxx**

**THE END**

And there you have it kids.

Now let's all take a nap until the 9 days, 5 hours and god knows how many minutes until the "House of Hades" is released...

Is it now?

Is it?

Okay...I'm better now.

Please review.

Peace

Mystic


End file.
